


Learning Curves Redux

by Gears112



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, As did Henry did when he first met Maria, Cinnamon Roll Toons, Comments and Prompts Welcomed, Developing Friendships, Evil Joey Drew, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Family Secrets, First Meetings, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Guy Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Good Guy Boris (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Good Guy Joey Drew, Henry Stein Saves Everyone, Henry adopts the Toons, Henry needs a nap and a hug, Implied Past Abuse, Ink Monster Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Joey Drew Studios, Joey Drew is "Bendy" | Ink Bendy, Learning Curves AU, Mentioned Joey Drew, Norman and Sammy make a 'great' first impression, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Poor Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine), References to Bendy and the Ink Machine: Dreams Come to Life, Rewrite, Sammy Lawrence Lives, Sammy Needs a Hug, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, The Toons don't really have a filter, Toons are like Children, Toons need a Hug, Twins, technically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28602021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gears112/pseuds/Gears112
Summary: Rewrite of my Bendy fanfic "Learning Curves", where Henry managed to escape the studio with the toons his friend brought to life. He takes them to his home and now he and his wife go through the ups and downs of mending the scars that the studio and it's creator inflicted.Story will be similar to the original but will have some changes here and there.
Relationships: Henry Stein/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

…

“Guys…” Henry whispered as he pulled into the driveway. “Guys, we’re here…We’re home…” Henry couldn’t help but smile at the word; home , who would’ve thought that only a few days ago, he was just going to visit his friend Joey, and see what moderate craziness his friend had done in his absence. And now here he was, coming back home with not just one, but six new additions to the family. His wife was going to be definitely surprised, especially since he didn’t think to stop at a restaurant to call her, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t mind too much.

“Ngh...huh?” The small demon grumbled before he lit up. “W-What-Really?!” Henry smiled as Bendy quickly went to work to wake up his co-stars. “Guys! Guys! Guys! We’re here!” There were some reluctant groans as Henry stopped the car in the driveway and unlocked it, opening the door as Bendy hopped out of the car, gasping in awe at the dusk-lit evening.

“What’s this Mr. Ozell!?”

“That’s grass, Bendy,”

“What’s this thingy?”

“That’s my mailbox, Bendy, and the red thing lets the postman know I have mail that needs to be taken.” Bendy’s eyes widened and Henry couldn’t help but chuckle. “Lucky guess, buddy.” He helped Alice and Barely out of the car, the others following hesitantly.

“Henry?!” The toons jumped and hid behind Henry and back in the car as a woman roughly Henry’s age came out of the house, the door slamming behind her as she hurried over. “Henry! Henry Ozell! You told me only three days!” She scolded, stomping up to him and jamming a finger into his chest. “I told you to call me if you were staying longer!” Henry chuckled nervously, understanding why she’d be so angry.

“I know, I know, things came up Maria,” Maria raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying that.

“Things better not included a-” She stopped as she spotted the wide eyes staring back at her. “W-What-”

“Maria, this is Boris, Alice, Charley Barley, Edgar, and Bendy;” He said gently. “Everyone, this is my wife, Maria.” The toons waited with baited breath as the woman stared at them, before the dark haired woman shook her head, chuckling.

“Henry, Henry, Henry,” She gently scolded, patting the man’s chest. “You never plan for anything…”

“It’s a talent Maria,” Henry chuckled before turning to the toons. “Come on, we’ll give you guys a tour,”

“Alrighty!” Edgar and Bendy exclaimed before they spotted the flowers growing near the front patio. Both the demon and spider took Maria’s hands and led her over there asking about the flowers and the door. Maria laughed as she took it in stride, answering the questions almost as fast as the questions were being asked. Henry chuckled as he looked at the other toons, who weren’t as on board as the other two.

“It’ll be ok everyone,” He said, offering a comforting smile. “I promise…”

.

* * *

.

“Wowie! It’s so colorful here!” Bendy exclaimed as he bounded around the kitchen, holding himself back from actually touching anything in the kitchen. Maria chuckled.

“Thank you Bendy, I do like a splash here and there,” She turned to the others, who were staying close to Henry and watching her warily. “What would you all like for dinner?”

“W-What?” Alice exclaimed.

“Dinner?” Boris asked in surprise.

“Yes, dinner,” Maria said. “I was only going to make myself something small since I wasn’t expecting someone to come back home.” She shot her husband a look. “But I’m sure we have enough food for something special,” She walked over to the fridge.

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Boris argued. “We’re not that special for a super special dinner…”

“Boris,” Henry said slowly as his wife looked at the canine.

“Nonsense.” She said simply. “Henry doesn’t stick to boring so obviously you’re all special.” She looked back into the fridge as Boris looked at Henry, startled and surprised by the casual retort. Henry chuckled slightly.

“I can fire up the grill,” He offered.

“What’s that ?’ Bendy exclaimed, spinning on his feet to face the former animator and Henry couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well, I guess I’ll show you guys; how’s that sound everyone?” There were murmurs of agreement.

“Wonderful,” Maria said. “I’ll get the food out, and we’ll also work on a grocery list for one day this week, so if there’s anything you all want as well, speak up.” The toons exchanged looks of confusion while Maria looked at Henry with an eyebrow raised. Henry mouthed that he’d explain later that night before smiling at the toons.

“We still have things for chocolate chip cookies, right?” He offered, the toons’ eyes widening at the idea of sweets.

“We can have cookies after dinner.” Maria said sternly, though there was a hint of a smile. “I know you think that constitutes dinner Mr. Ozell, but I beg to differ,” Henry snorted as he leaned against the counter, the dried ink on him making a squeaking sound. Maria raised an eyebrow as Henry’s face flushed. “Perhaps you should shower before you start up the grill.” She stated. “You look like you lost several fights with those handwriting set the twins had”

“Shower?” Bendy asked slowly. “What’s that-Oh! Wait! That’s the thing that was in Boris’s safehouse, right?”

“Safe House?” Maria asked and Bendy immediately went quiet and hid behind Henry.

“It was where we stayed in the studio,” Charley said quickly. “It was the only place with not as much ink…so we were safe from a really big mess!” He managed to hide his gulp as Maria turned her attention to her, not appearing like she quite believed it.

“Maria, I’ll shower after I grill, ok? I mean I’ll stink anyways so why waste a shower?” Henry said, grabbing his wife’s attention. The toons watched in slight horror and awe as their creator didn’t seem scared in the slightest as the woman crossed her arms. They were startled however, by the lack of an altercation and instead the woman sighing.

“I don’t think I could argue with your logic Henry; I don’t think there’s enough time in the world for that,” She shook her head. “I do expect an explanation later. But for now I’ll let it slide, and we can focus on getting dinner set up and then we can show you the rest of the house."

.

* * *

.

After dinner, and after Henry had to keep Bendy from burning himself with fresh cookies and explaining that wasn’t going to end well, the two adults showed the toons around the rest of the house, including a spare bedroom. 

“Wowie! Where did you learn that magic trick!?” Bendy exclaimed as Henry pulled out the futon’s bed and Maria came back with extra blankets.

“Here’s some to start off with,” She explained. “There’s more in the closet in the hallway if you need it,”

“You really don’t need to do that ma’am,” Boris said slowly. “We can all share…” 

“You all deserve to be comfortable, and there’s no place off limit in the house, barring when the bathroom’s occupied,” She said with a chuckle. “If you all need anything don’t hesitate to ask me or Henry for help.”

“Yeah, our house is your house you guys,” He said with a chuckle before yawning. “Now, have a good night you guys; we’ll be right down the hall. I’m going to head to bed.”

“After your shower.” Maria noted and Henry made a face, earning giggles from the toons. He rolled his eyes playfully and scooped her up, earning a super squeak from his wife. “H-Henry! How in-Put me down! You’ll hurt yourself!” Henry just chuckled.

“I’m fine, but now you’ll need a shower too,” He pecked her on the cheek, before turning to the toons. “Have a good night!” He left the room, carrying his wife despite her protests about him hurting himself. Bendy giggled and Alice sighed softly.

“Bendy, let’s not get too attached too soon,” Bendy looked at her in confusion before huffing and turning away. “Bendy, I know it’s difficult, but we-” Bendy stormed out of the room. “Hey! Bendy-” Boris put a hand on her shoulder.

“Alice, drop it...let him have this…”

“But, Boris, he’s just setting himself up…”

“We can talk about it in the morning,” Charley said as he and Barley hopped onto the futon. “Obviously Mr. Henry trusts her, and it’s already late…” Alice didn’t look convinced.

“This bed’s super comfy though!” Barley pointed out. Edgar watched as the other toons got onto the bed before turning and heading off to check on Bendy. The spider found the darling demon hopping up on the couch, wiping his eyes.

“B-Bendy?”

“I’m not gonna listen to ‘em...Mr. Henry’s not gonna let anyone hurt us…” He sniffled and Edgar hopped up and patted Beny’s back. 

“I know…if you want, we can sleep out here!” Edgar offered. “Besides Barley kicks in his sleep and Charley snores.” Bendy smiled.

“Thanks Edgar…”

.

* * *

.

_Henry had always been a light sleeper, even without being trapped underground with all sorts of creatures wanting to go after him, so he was up when he heard a soft pitter patter and timid climbing on the trunks near him._

_“Couldn’t sleep little guy?” He whispered, obviously trying to not wake up Boris or Alice nearby. Bendy looked sheepish before was startled by Henry offering his hand. “Here, you can sleep with me buddy,”_

_“R-Really?” Bendy asked; Joey would’ve just scolded him and sent him back to bed at best._

_“Of course,” Henry smiled and helped the demon onto his lap. “Sides, I’m not entirely used to sleeping alone, so I could use the company,”_

_“What do you mean?” Henry chuckled as he and Bendy got nestled back into the makeshift bed._

_“Well, me and my wife have shared a bed for a long time so I’m not used to being by myself...”_

_“Your wife?” Henry nodded. “...what’s she like? I-if you don’t mind me asking Mr. Ozell…”_

_“I told you that Henry was fine,” Henry said before sighing softly, looking up at the ceiling. “Maria’s a wonderful lady...she’s passionate, and kind, and she just lights up the room, er, figuratively of course…” He chuckled as Bendy closed his mouth, his question answered. “She helps out with the local theater and gives piano lessons to some of the neighborhood kids, and she by far makes the best chocolate cakes the world has ever seen..”_

_“Whoa…d-do you think she’d like me or the others?”_

_“Of course Bendaroo…” He said without hesitation. “She’s going to love you and everyone…I promise…” Bendy smiled as he curled up against Henry and within the hour, the two of them finally got some small sense of peace in the abandoned studio._


	2. Chapter 2

…

“Huh?” Maria turned as she pulled down a bowl from the cabinet and saw Bendy standing at the edge of the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Good morning Bendy,” She said simply. “Did you sleep well?” Bendy blinked before chuckling sheepishly.

“Yeah Mrs. Maria…your couch is comfy!” Maria raised an eyebrow before nodding. “U-Um, what are you doing?” He asked quickly.

“I’m making breakfast,” She explained. “I figure it would be something nice," She shrugged before placing the bowl on the counter and faced the toon. “Would you like to help me?”

“Um, sure!" Bendy said, coming over slowly. "What are you going to make?"

"I was thinking pancakes and bacon, it’s always been Henry’s favorite…” Bendy’s eyes widened.

“Oooo…that sounds super good!” Maria chuckled softly as she watched the demon come over before stopping. "Um I don't think I'd be able to be much help actually...I'm a little vertically challenged," Maria managed to catch her snort. "What?"

"Oh it's nothing, Henry always says that when he can’t reach something, or I ask him to reach for something for me…” She chuckled before opening a cabinet and pulling out a folding step stool. “Here, this should help; if not we can grab one of the chairs and pull it in…” Bendy carefully hopped up and Maria chuckled. “There we go, now you can see what we’re doing.” 

“This is cool!” Bendy exclaimed excitedly before seeing the equipment on the counter. “What’s...all of this?”

“It’s the things we need for pancakes,” She said. “I doubt Mr. Drew installed an actual kitchen in the studio,” She chuckled. “He made Henry’s cooking look edible.” Bendy nodded weakly, almost half expecting Joey to jump out of somewhere to punish that remark. Maria noticed it but didn’t comment on it, instead moving the bowl towards Bendy. “Alright, I place the ingredients in the bowl, and you can stir it, ok?” Bendy nodded.

“I got it!” Maria chuckled as she turned to grab the ingredients, while Bendy leaned further forward to reach the bowl.

.

* * *

.

Henry leapt out of bed when he heard the crash, a million thoughts racing through his mind. It took him a moment to realize he wasn’t in the studio and back at home. He hurried to the kitchen and let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding as he saw Maria gently comforting the demon, shards of the bowl splattered around the floor, and pieces of the step stool toppled over. Henry was quiet as he tugged at the sleeve of his shirt, trying to hide the slightly glowing mark on his forearm; as much as he trusted his wife, he didn’t want to go into full detail about the horrors he witnessed, before walking into the kitchen.

“Is everything alright?” Maria looked up and smiled gently.

“It’s fine, the stool broke under him….” She explained. “He was holding the bowl when he fell,” Henry got over to them and got to his knees to check on Bendy, who was sniffling and fighting back tears. 

“You ok buddy?” Henry asked softly.

“I-I’m sorry…” Bendy whimpered. “I-I’m so sorry…” 

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Maria said gently before Henry could interject and calm down the demon. “I didn’t think the stool was that old, or that the bowl was so heavy. Besides, we can replace the bowl; we can’t replace you. Now let’s go make sure that the bowl didn’t get you hurt,” Bendy looked at her in confusion.

“B-But what about breakfast?”

“It’s alright buddy, we can wait a bit longer,” Henry said. “Maria should be able to finish quickly, she was a nurse back when we first met,”

“And I most certainly have had practice since then, given someone’s tendency to act before thinking,” Maria said coyly and Henry’s face went pink, earning a timid giggle from Bendy. Henry helped the two of them to their feet and Henry looked over at the others, who were trying to hide behind the corner. He offered them a smile. “Henry, please can you grab me another bowl from the cabinet?”

“Of course Maria, lemme get these pieces out of here first…” He said before quickly picking up the pieces and tossing them in the trash. He looked at the stuff she had pulled out. “Oh? You’re going to make pancakes?” 

“Ooo!” Boris exclaimed. “That sounds delicious!” 

“Ack! Watch the tail Boris!” Charley exclaimed, batting each time the tail came for his face, earning some chuckling and laughter from the others.

.

* * *

.

Breakfast was rather uneventful, thankfully, and afterwards, Henry and the toons spent more of the morning exploring the backyard. Henry explained the flowers and some of the birds that decided to be hiding in the trees.

"And these are Maria’s favorite…" Henry said, stopping near the rose bush. He made a face as he looked over the rose before turning back to the house, seeing Maria watching them from the patio, leaning against the . “Maria, who did the roses while I was gone?”

“I did,” She said simply. 

“Whoa, that must’ve been super hard!” Bendy exclaimed. “There’s a lot of prickly bits on here!” Maria chuckled.

“I can handle myself, Bendy,” She looked at Henry. “And here I thought you were joking that Bendy was a part of you,” Henry rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously.

“Maria,” He started to say.

“I’m only teasing you Henry,” She said. “The studio was your baby as much as it was Mr. Drew’s.” She looked at the toons. “Trust me, you all but had to drag them out some days, and Sammy too, if he was having one of his fits,” She chuckled and shook her head while the toons looked at their creator wondering the same thing; how much, if anything, was Henry going to explain to her about the studio. Henry offered them a comforting smile before looking back at his wife.

“A lot has changed since last time we went to the studio.” He pointed out before noticing the sky darkening. “We better get inside,”

“Why?” Edgar piped up.

“It’s supposed to rain this afternoon, but I suppose it wants to happen early,” Maria noted and Alice made a face.

“Then we better hurry, I don’t want my halo soaked!” 

“Aye! I like water, but not when it’s in my hat!” Barley exclaimed and the two of them scurried towards Maria and the house, earning snickers from Boris and Charley while Bendy took Henry’s hand. Henry squeezed it comfortingly as he walked with the other toons back inside of the house.

.

* * *

.

“I don’t like that scary ol’ noise!” Barley whined, covering his ears as the thunderstorm boomed on outside. The toons were huddled in the living room, curled under blankets with Henry.

“I know guys, thunderstorms aren’t a lot of fun,” He whispered gently. “But you guys are safe in the house, I promise,” He forced a smile, though it was difficult to stay grounded, especially as the echoing reverberations were growing louder in his mind.

“I finished the drinks,” Maria’s voice grabbed everyone’s attention. “Hot chocolate with a little something special,” She came into the living room, placing the mugs onto the coffee table. Henry helped hand out the drinks. “They’re hot so be careful, ok?”

“It’s delicious!” Bendy exclaimed.

“You put cinnamon in it?” Maria nodded.

“Of course Henry, and I’ll continue to do it,” She said, chuckling before looking out at the storm. “We certainly needed the rain,” There was a crack of lighting and several moments later there was a rolling boom of thunder. The toons and Henry jumped slightly, both to not spill their drinks, and not to get Maria’s attention. “Another strike,”

“What?” Maria turned to the toons, startled, before chuckling.

“Henry always says that, you know, the angels bowling when it’s storming,” Henry blinked slowly before smiling.

“Yeah...I did always say that,” Henry said gently.

“I didn’t know you bowled Alice!” Bendy exclaimed.

“I didn’t know I bowled either!” Maria chuckled as she sat on the other side of the group.

“Well, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?” She offered. “Perhaps next week we can go down to the bowling alley and surprise Lenny,” She chuckled softly, missing the momentary look of concern of the toons before they realized what she meant.

“Who’s Lenny?”

“He owns the bowling alley in town…” Henry said slowly. “He’s a good fella,” Maria looked at her husband in mock surprise.

“Do my ears deceive me? Did you, Mr. Henry Ozell, admit that Lenard Jackson is actually decent?” The toons looked at Henry, whose face was flushing bright red before looking at Maria. “I suppose he didn’t tell you about when he took me bowling a few years ago?” The toons leaned in excitedly and Maria chuckled before telling the story of when Henry had taken her on a bowling date and shenanigans ensued when Lenny assumed it was just a date and not that they were married and tried to flirt with her. Henry covered his face in embarrassment as the toons fell over laughing when Maria imitated Henry’s voice as he challenged the idea, and then Lenny’s father who suggested that they face off in a bowling match as a joke, to which Henry and Lenny took it seriously. As she finished the story, Henry looked outside and made a small sound of surprise.

“It stopped raining…” Maria looked at the window as well, smiling.

“Wonderful!” She stood up. “Come on,” 

“Where are we going?” Boris asked as Maria led them outside. Henry smiled as he stepped out.

“We’re going to see a rainbow..” He said, looking up at the sky. “Ah! Right over there!” The toons’ eyes went wide as they saw the rainbow in the sky.

“Wow…”

“I always look to see if there’s one after a storm...” Maria said softly, and Henry pulled into a side hug. 

“It’s a good reminder that there’s something always waiting for us after the storm,” He said before kissing the top of her head.

“What’s this?” Bendy asked, creeping towards a puddle. “It looks like an ink puddle but it’s clear!”

“It’s a rain puddle,” Henry said, a mischievous grin growing on his face. “And it does something even better than the puddles in the studio.” Maria’s eyes widened.

“Henry no-” She was ignored as Henry laughed and headed over to Bendy and took his hand and showed him how to jump into the puddle with the biggest splash possible. “Henry!”

“Whoa! This is so cool!” Bendy exclaimed as he hopped with Henry in the puddle. He looked at the others. “Come on guys! This is awesome!” The toons exchanged looks before looking at Maria, who just chuckled and shook her head, reacting not at all how they expected.

“You’re going to help me with laundry.” She stated, but she had a small smile on her face as she walked over to her husband and Bendy.

“Of course Maria, now come on, we shouldn’t be the only ones having fun!”

"But of course Henry,"


	3. Chapter 3

...

“These stains are something else,” Maria grumbled to herself as she pulled out Henry’s shirt from the laundry sink, the ink stains just as clear as when he came home. “What on earth did that man get into?” She sighed and reached for the bleach. “I’d hate to ruin the color but I’ve got no other opt-”

“What are you doing ma’am?” Maria shrieked in surprise, startling Edgar as she grabbed the sink. “M-Mrs. Maria?”

“I-I’m sorry,” She managed out, catching her breath. “I’m sorry, I was just startled,” She weakly laughed as she pushed herself off the sink. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” Edgar laughed sheepishly.

“It’s ok...I’m supposed to be a little spooky...cause I’m a spider.” He gestured to himself and Maria shook her head, brushing off imaginary dust off her shirt.

“Trust me, I would’ve shrieked if it was anybody else,” She laughed. “Is there anything I can do to help you?” Edgar looked sheepish.

“I got kinda curious about what you were doing in here...I mean we already did the laundry, right?” Maria smiled gently.

“Yes, and it’s almost done drying. I was just checking on the soak I did on Henry’s shirt,” She explained, holding up the shirt. “I was hoping that soaking the shirt would help get rid of some of the stains, but it looks like whatever Henry was up to at the studio isn’t going to be cleaned off easy, so I was going to grab bleach and try that to clean it.”

“Bleach?” Edgar asked slowly and Maria nodded.

“Yes, it’s supposed to clean up stains, though it’ll ruin the color of the shirt more than likely.” She sighed.

“That’s not good…” Edgar said and Maria shrugged.

“It happens, there’s nothing to be done about it.”

“But it’s not perfect,” Maria looked at Edgar in confusion. 

“What?”

“It always has to be perfect, or it needs to be fixed.” Edgar said, shifting uncomfortably as Maria’s confusion became only more obvious before she shook her head and got to the spider’s eye level.

“Edgar, who told that kind of thing?” The spider looked at his feet and Maria’s face softened. “Edgar, whoever told you that isn’t someone who should be giving any kind of advice,"

"W-Why?"

"Because it's wrong,” She explained. “Being perfect is only good for being put on display, not for everyday living. I mean, let’s say you have a toy, are you going to play with it or are you going to leave it on a shelf and never touch it again so it doesn’t get used?” Edgar made a face.

“I’d want to play with it…” He said slowly. “Cause I like toys,”

“And it makes you happy,” Maria said. “Perfection isn’t really perfection if it doesn’t make you happy.” Edgar’s eyes widened at that remark.

“R-Really?” Maria nodded simply before she was nearly toppled over by the spider’s hug. She was about to ask, but stopped herself as she heard the sniffling. She patted the toon’s back and gently hummed, wondering what exactly happened to everyone at the studio.

.

* * *

.

_ “What…?” _

_ “I’m almost done, give me a second.” The Irishman grunted in a tone that screamed ‘do not argue’ and Henry looked at his wife, as if the young woman would have the answer. She only offered a small shrug, obviously trying to not move much and disrupt the artist. A few awkward moments later, the toymaker made a grunt of approval and placed his paintbrush in his hair. “There,” He turned the painting as Mr. Drew was walking down the hall. _

_ “Ah, Henry, there you are, I need-Mr. Flynn, what are you doing outside of your office? And Mrs. Ozell what brings-” _

_ “That’s amazing Mr. Flynn!” Maria exclaimed as she saw the portrait.  _

_ “Wow, you’re full of surprises Shawn,” Henry laughed. “How’d you learn to do that?” Shawn shrugged absently.  _

_ “It’s a hobby,” _

_ “And to think you keep making the smiles crooked.” Mr. Drew snarked, earning a pair of looks from the men. “Now, may I ask why you’re here Mrs. Ozell?” _

_ “I’m picking up Henry, Mr. Drew.” She said simply. “I’d rather not be late for our double date again,” Henry’s face flushed as the owner of the studio crossed his arms. _

_ “We need to discuss the shorts for the publish, and be prepared for the deadline.” He said.  _

_ “Even more than you have already?” She asked, crossing her arms.  _

_ “One cannot be too prepared. We will be meeting most of the evening.” _

_ “Molly’s not going to be thrilled to hear that you’re missing Linda’s parent teacher conference again.” Mr. Drew’s eyes went wide. _

_ “You wouldn’t.” A smirk tugged at the woman’s lips. _

_ “Try me Mr. Drew.”  _

_ “Maria,” Henry butted in. “Give us a few minutes and we’ll be ready to go.” Maria looked at her husband. _

_ “Ten minutes is all you’re getting.” Henry nodded and led his friend down the hall, hoping to avoid the confrontation. Once they were gone, Shawn let out a whistle. _

_ “I’ve seen many men get in trouble for less ma’am…” He muttered as Maria chuckled. _

_ “I’ve met my share of men who thought they were all that,” She said simply. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”  _

_. _

* * *

.

“You can dance?” Maria chuckled as she pulled Henry off the couch, much to Boris’s annoyance, who had been resting his head on Henry’s lap after they, with some comical effort, folded the dried laundry.

“Of course Bendy! Who do you think taught him?” She said teasingly as Henry put on the record player. “And of course when you boys needed some help with referencing,” Henry chuckled.

“You certainly were a spectacular Alice Angel,” Alice gasped.

“You were me?” Maria chuckled.

“Oh no, I merely did a dance or two to help the animators figure out how to draw you dancing Alice. I’m certainly not Susie or Allison,” She chuckled and Henry took her hand as the music began to play.

“I’m glad you’re you,” He said softly, pulling her close as they swayed in time to the music, much to the excitement of Bendy and Edgar. Even the other toons couldn’t help but be entertained by the duo’s dancing, especially as Henry spun her around, earning laughter from the woman. Suddenly the phone rang, startling the group, and Maria pulled away, heading to answer it.

“Hello?” Henry looked over at the toons as Maria answered it, frowning in frustration. She turned away from the group and spoke in a hushed tone.

“Maria?” Henry asked slowly as the woman hung up the phone rather harshly.

“Just Nathan Arch’s secretary, that’s all.” Henry raised an eyebrow. 

“What would he want with us?” He asked slowly and Maria raised an eyebrow at her husband, waiting for it to click for him.

“Who’s Nathan Arch?” Bendy asked slowly.

“Sounds like Mr. Drew’s old friend…” Charley muttered and Henry’s eyes widened as it clicked.

“Wait, he knows that I don’t have the rights to the characters!”

“You were their friend.” Maria retorted. “He probably thinks you have some old artwork that would be worth something,” She shrugged before turning to the toons. “Nathan Arch runs the filming studio nearby; he technically owns your shorts nowadays,” She waved absently. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it; he’s just a pushy man who only pokes his head out of his bubble when he thinks he can make a buck.”

“I’ll try and get a meeting with him next week I guess…” Henry said, trying to hide the defeat in his voice. Maria offered him a gentle smile.

“You can handle him Henry,”

“Yeah! You handled that False Angel and Sammy super well!” Bendy piped up.

“Yeah! And that guy with a projector for a head!” Edgar added, Boris nodding in agreement before Alice added.

“And that super scary park ride guy!” Maria’s eyes widened as she stared at her husband, who chuckled nervously as the toons’s faces fell, realizing that they weren’t supposed to tell  _ all _ of that aloud

“Henry….”

“Maria…” 

“Explain.” Henry opened his mouth, wanting to argue before sighing, knowing that he couldn’t betray his wife like that and rolled up his sleeve. “Henry, what are-What is that?!” She exclaimed as she saw the glowing occult-like symbol seemingly carved into his forearm. “Henry…” She took his arm and gently looked closer. “What…” 

“Joey…” Henry started to say, trembling, fighting to stay upright. “H-He wanted-I was-They...” Maria pulled her husband into a hug and gently shushed him, getting him towards the couch. The toons watched carefully as Maria comforted her husband, being reminded of when they were in the studio and Henry was there for them. Bendy sniffled and hurried over to hug the two adults, the others quickly following suit.


	4. Chapter 4

...

“What are you making Maria?” Henry asked tiredly into his wife’s shoulder. Maria chuckled as she kept working at cutting the vegetables.

“The Parkers are having a party tomorrow and invited us, though Sally wanted me to bring extra veggies; Jamie is in that mow-down age where there’s no limit,” She chuckled softly. “Hopefully there’ll be enough for everyone.” Henry made a tired hum. "How are they all doing?"

"Asleep," Maria chuckled.

"Sounds like you're about to join them,"

"Maybe, but I wanted to check on you," He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Make sure you were still here,"

"You can't get rid of me that easy Henry," She said playfully. "But you should probably get some sleep; I can handle the house,"

"I know…" He muttered softly. “I know Maria…” Maria placed the knife down and turned around, facing her husband.

"Henry, I told you it's ok," She said. "You shouldn't push yourself to tell me what happened. It's still affecting you so much, and I'd rather not know than make you relive it again." Henry opened his mouth but Maria placed her finger on his lips. "I'm not going to argue with you, you know I'm right." Henry smiled softly. "At least now I know how you were able to carry me to the bedroom the other day." Henry made a face.

"That's a bold assumption Maria," 

"Henry, as much as you claim otherwise, you're not exactly a spring chicken." 

"I can do heavy lifting just fine!"

"But carrying me all the way to our bedroom? Henry, you haven't done that in at least five years, and even then the doctor said you shouldn't stress your back." Henry sighed, though internally he couldn't help but laugh, given his misadventures in the studio, his back was the least of his issues. "Now it's not that I don't appreciate the gesture, I just don't want you getting hurt doing something silly," Henry chuckled and nodded.

"I'll be careful Maria, I promise," He said before pulling her closely and leaned towards her for a-

"Mr. Henry!" Henry and Maria turned to see Bendy standing in the doorway. "The big dryer thing made a buzzing noise and-oh! Are you guys dancing again? But there isn't any music or radio in here…" Henry’s face went dark red as Maria’s flushed pink as she chuckled.

"Henry was just helping me with some snacks for tomorrow," Maria explained and Bendy’s head tilted in confusion.

"But he's holding you like you're dancing…"

"It's a kitchen dance." Henry said simply, holding Maria closer. "It's a perk of being married to each other."

"Cool!" Bendy exclaimed. "Can I watch it? I promise not to tell anybody!" Maria went bright red and placed her face in Henry’s chest, hoping to stifle her embarrassed laughter. 

"Well Buddy, it's supposed to be a private thing…" Henry explained before spotting the other toons. "I thought you guys were asleep…" The toons looked sheepish as they tried to hide themselves behind the corner. Henry chuckled gently before turning to his wife. "Maybe we should start working on dinner; we've got an audience," Maria chuckled and looked at the toons.

"Why don't you all start figuring out that while I take the clothes out of the dryer? That way we can take care of that while some of us are cooking." Henry nodded.

"I can help you Mrs. Maria!" Alice piped up, missing Henry’s surprise while Maria chuckled. 

“I won’t say no to extra hands,” She chuckled before peeling herself away from her husband. “You boys behave, alright?” She offered her hand to Alice and the two ladies walked down the hallway. Henry watched them leave before looking at the others, confusion obvious, but with a hopeful smile on his face. He turned to the others.

“Well, let’s get to work on dinner, alright?”

.

* * *

.

“Um...Mrs. Maria,” Alice asked slowly. “You mentioned there were shorts of us the other day…did you see many of them?” Maria shrugged as she opened the dryer door. 

“I’ve seen a few here and there,” She said as she started to pull out the clothes. “Though granted, it’s been a while since I’ve seen any of them.” 

“Oh…” Alice looked at her feet before looking at Maria. “Did you know Susie or Allison?”

“Sort of?” Maria admitted. “I mean I only saw them once or twice when I visited the studio to pick up Henry or drag the boys out…” She frowned slightly. “Outside of that, I think I may have seen Allison once when Nathan Arch did one of those studio tours…” Maria shrugged.

“Oh…”

“Can I ask why you’re curious Alice?” Alice’s face flushed as she looked at her shoes.

“I mean...I never got to meet them...so I kinda wanted to know what they were like…so I can be like them…”

“But you’re not Susie or Allison, you’re Alice Angel,” Maria said. “Being yourself is much easier than pretending to be someone else.” Alice frowned slightly.

“But Susie and Allison were my voice actresses...so I should be like them.” Maria made a face.

“I don’t think I quite see the logic of that argument.” Maria retorted. “After all, I think Wally voiced Charley once or twice and I wouldn’t trust Wally to tell the time, let alone let him handle money or lead a gang,” Alice frowned slightly.

“I-I guess…”

“Besides, even if the two were saints, and I'm not saying they aren't nice women, I’d still rather have you be you.” Alice blinked in surprise and looked at Maria.

“W-What-Really?!”

“Of course Alice, I have no reason to lie to you,” Maria said simply. “And while yes, I’ve only known you for a bit, I’m fairly good at reading people.”

“Henry did say that when we asked about you…” Alice admitted and Maria smiled gently. “He said a lot of nice things about you…” 

“That’s good to hear…” Maria said before there was a crash from the kitchen. Maria and Alice hurried and saw several bowls splattered across the floor, Henry on the floor, and the others frozen in fear. “Oh! What happened?!”

“Oh no…” Alice whimpered as Maria rushed over to her husband and helped him to his feet. “They’re gonna get fixed…”

“I-I just slipped,” Henry managed out weakly. “I-I’m sorry Maria,”

“Bah, I was looking for an excuse to replace these old things,” She said firmly, working on looking over Henry, to see and make sure there weren't any injuries on Henry. “And frankly we should’ve done it sooner, especially given the twin’s antics,” Henry smiled weakly, trying to hide his wince at Maria checking his forearm, the symbol glowing and throbbing slightly. Maria looked at her husband, confusion obvious, before shaking her head. “Let’s just order delivery for tonight after we clean this up,” She looked over at Boris. “Boris, can you help Henry to the couch? I don’t want him falling over,” Boris looked at her in confusion.

“Y-You’re not going to fix him?” 

“What?” The toons suddenly found the floor suddenly very interesting and Maria looked at her husband, who seemed too drained to be coherent, and if she was being honest with herself, she didn’t want to accidentally trigger her husband. “No, he’s fine; a bit bruised up, but nothing that would require him to head to the hospital. Even then I’d need help taking him here,” 

“I can handle walking Maria,” Maria didn’t look convinced as she looked at her husband. She sighed and looked at the toons.

“I’ll walk him there then; please be careful picking up the bowl pieces.” The toons looked at her in surprise as she started to help her husband move towards the living room. She ignored the looks of confusion from the toons and focused on getting her husband to the couch. She sat him down and let out a soft sigh as Henry started to doze off. Once she was sure he was ok, she stood up and walked past the kitchen, noticing the toons talking in hushed voices, crowding in a huddle and headed to the phone. “It wouldn’t really hurt to at least ask him to come over...he worked at the studio as well after all…”


	5. Chapter 5

...

"Puppy!"

"I'm not a pup-"

"Puppy!!" Boris got toppled by the toddlers claiming him to be a puppy dog, though Bendy certainly helped in leading the tackle hug of his friend. 

"Oh Lordy...you alright there?" One of the parents asked and Boris gave a weak thumbs up. 

"They certainly like them," Henry said, admittedly surprised by the reactions of the neighbors when they met the toons; he had been expecting at least some backlash or confusion of their existence, but now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't have been too worried; his neighbors knew of the studio and its reputation almost as well as he did. "I'm glad they're having fun,"

"I'm just glad the Butcher Gang isn't leading a charge on the snacks," Sally said, adjusting her napping baby in her arms. "Thanks again for helping Maria,"

"Oh it's no problem, Sally," Maria laughed. "She's growing like a weed," Henry smiled and patted his wife’s hand. 

"Isn't that the truth, we're barely keeping up with her outgrowing her clothes," Sally laughed. "Oh, by the way, you hear about Mrs. Conners? Rumor has it that she’s got a leading role in the new movie they’re planning!” 

“Really?” Henry asked slowly. “That’s good to hear...any idea what the movie’s about?” Sally shrugged.

“Not a clue, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon,” She shrugged as she took a sip of her drink before chuckling. “Looks like everyone’s having fun…” Henry turned to see the toons playing with the children, smiles obvious on their faces, and smiled gently.

“Yeah, they really are…”

.

* * *

.

_ “Henry?” Henry tore himself from the photo he found in the old bookshelf in the office and looked at Bendy. “Are you ok?” _

_ “Yeah, I’m alright...there’s just a lot of old memories here…” He smiled softly. “A lot of memories here…” _

_ “Bad ones?” _

_ “And a lot of good ones too Bendy,” Henry said. “I mean, I helped create the shorts, which means I made you,” He chuckled. “Also met Maria too…” _

_ “What? Really?” Bendy’s eyes went wide in surprise. “You gotta tell me!” Henry laughed. _

_ “Once we get outta here, ok?” He said. “We got to keep paying attention,” Bendy nodded. _

_ “Right, we can’t let Boris outta our sight again!” Bendy looked around comically, earning a look from Boris while Alice snickered. Even Henry couldn’t help but chuckle before he spotted another audio diary nestled on the above shelf. He reached for it and rubbed at the label, which had been chipped off, leaving no indication of whose voice it was. “Who’s radio is that?” _

_ “Not sure…” Henry said slowly before pressing play. _

_ ‘What in blazes are you doing here?” Joey’s voice came from the diary and the toons frowned, recognizing all too well the anger of their other creator. _

_ “You want the answer as your friend’s wife, your wife’s friend, or as your-” The color drained from Henry’s face as he quickly turned the diary off, clutching the device in a white knuckle grip. The toons looked at him in confusion but none of them wanted to be the first to ask what was going on. _

_ “Maybe there’s a key in another office?” Boris offered weakly. “I mean, there’s another one down the hall…” Henry nodded as he placed the radio back on the shelf.  _

_ “That seems like a good idea, let’s go guys.” _

.

* * *

.

“What be in here?” Barley asked slowly, opening the door to the parlor room. “Oh? A piano?”

“I teach piano for a couple of the neighborhood children,” Maria explained, walking by. “You’re more than welcome to sit in on a lesson next time,”

“I see, and I much appreciate the offer ma’am, but I don’t think a sailor is much of a musician…” He chuckled nervously as Maria raised an eyebrow.

“So no sea shanties or that kind of thing?” Barley blinked in confusion.

“What?” Maria chuckled as she gestured for the sailor to follow him. He followed her to the living room. “What are we doing?”

“I’m going to pull out one of the movies that Henry and I have so that way we can remember to play it for movie night; it’s about sailing and it was a musical-er, they sing and dance quite a bit,” Barley nodded slowly. “Aha! I found it!” She said, holding up the VHS before handing it to Barley. The toon took it slowly and nodded, looking at the case cover which showed pirates and sailors; it certainly looked like it would be fun.

“Thank you Mrs. Ozell!” Maria chuckled.

“It’s no problem Barley, but please, you guys can call me Maria...Mrs. Ozell is so formal,” She chuckled.

“O-Oh! Ok!” Barley said. “Can I show this to the others?”

“Of course!” Maria smiled as she watched the toon hurry off to find the others, before her face fell slightly; she did enjoy the toon’s company and she was grateful her husband didn’t leave them behind when he visited the studio, but she worried how this happened and what went down at the studio. She sighed and shook her head before heading to the laundry room, pausing only to chuckle when she saw her husband fast asleep on the couch with Boris and Edgar on his lap; at least everyone seemed to be settling down.

_ CRASH! _

Maria jumped slightly and hurried towards the sound and saw Alice clutching her halo, frozen in fear, as the old vase laid in pieces. 

"Alice, what happened?" Maria asked, making sure she kept her tone gentle.

"C-Charley was egging me on, so to get back at him I aimed my halo at him. And it missed." Alice said, clearly fighting back tears. Maria let out a soft sigh as she got to a knee, almost placing a hand on Alice, but stopping herself as she saw the flinch from the toon. 

"Alice, you're not supposed to throw things in the house, especially if you can't guarantee where they'd land." Alice nodded, not trusting herself to speak. “You need to help me clean this up and you won’t have dessert tonight, alright?” Alice looked at her in confusion and concern.

“Y-You won’t make me drink the bad ink to make me perfect again?” Maria frowned.

“What?”

“To get rid of the imperfections…” Alice said slowly, obviously not wanting to go into much detail about it. “M-Mr. Drew says that perfection has-”

“Mr. Drew is an egomaniacal imbecile.” Maria said sharply, startling Alice. Maria sighed gently. “I’m sorry...I shouldn’t have snapped like that...I just have a frustrating relationship with that man. He’d say anything to get this way and then throw a tantrum when things don’t go his way.”

“A tantrum?” Alice asked slowly and Maria nodded.

“Like a spoiled rotten child being told no.” She said simply. “I’m sure that Henry has some of the more entertaining stories, of when he had to hold him back when reality was brought up.” Alice nodded slowly and Maria smiled gently. “Let’s get this mess cleaned up ok?” Alice nodded and Maria got to her feet before offering her hand to the angel. Alice slowly took Maria’s hand and they went to clean up the mess.


	6. Chapter 6

…

“What’s a date?” Alice asked as she sat next to Maria on the couch. “They keep mentioning it on the TV,” Maria chuckled as she set her knitting back in the basket.

“It is getting close to Valentine’s Day, isn’t it? They tend to show quite a bit of dates around this time...” Maria said as Henry looked up from his newspaper, momentarily startled before chuckling nervously. 

“Oh yeah…” He said slowly before looking at Alice. “A date is a special dinner people go on to spend some time with each other without worrying about other things…” Alice nodded slowly.

“Are you and Maria going to go on a date soon?” Henry’s face went red, earning some chuckling from Maria.

“It’s been a little since we went on a date like how the television and ads show, but we have our own special dates here and there, and hopefully we'll most likely have a small one in the future,” Maria explained, Alice nodding slowly, the metaphorical gears already turning in her head. 

“I’ve got to talk to the others!” She exclaimed, hopping off the couch, and hurried off to find the other toons. Maria and Henry watched her scurried off before looking at each other, knowing full well what the toon was going to rope the others into.

“They’re like little kids,” She said gently and Henry chuckled.

“Yeah, I’m glad they’re settling in,” He said, and Maria took his hand.

“And I’m glad you’re back,” She said before there was a knock at the door. Both of the adults looked at each other and then at the door in confusion; it was relatively late for the mail or for visitors. Maria got up and headed to the door. 

“Are you expecting anyone?” Maria shook her head as Henry got up and followed.

“No, I’m not,” She said as she opened the door and frowned as she saw the person on the other end. "Mr. Arch?"

"Please Maria, we've known each other for years, Nathan is fine." Maria didn't look impressed as the man saw Henry and smiled. "Ah, Henry, pleasant to see you again,"

"It's certainly a surprise," Henry admitted slowly, rubbing the back of his head. "Um, what brings you here?"

"Can't I visit my friend's little sister and mutual friend?" Maria crossed her arms. 

"It's a tad late for just a casual visit," Nathan shrugged. 

"I happen to be a very busy man. Not all of us have the luxury of being newly retirees." He teased. "Besides, I wanted to make sure you were doing alright, especially given the recent events…" Henry raised an eyebrow.

"What recent events?" It was Nathan's turn to raise an eyebrow as Maria looked away from her husband.

"Henry, you don't know what happened?"

"I've been at the old studio for...a bit…" Henry said slowly. "Joey had sent me a letter…" The studio head's eyebrows looked like they'd fall off the man's face.

"Henry, Joey’s been missing for at least a month…"

.

* * *

.

"But all we can make is burgers.” Charley argued as Alice finished talking about her plan. “That isn’t really romantic, is it?”

“I mean there was a pair of kids at a burger place on the TV once,” Boris said, frowning. “Oh! They shared a milkshake on the TV so maybe we can make a milkshake too? That outta be plenty romantic!”

“How do we make a milkshake?” Edgar asked innocently and the toons made faces as they thought about that.

“Uh…” 

“Maybe one of the neighbors know how to make one?” Barley offered.

“But that might alert Henry and Maria,” Charley pointed out. Bendy frowned before he perked up. 

“Wait! Maybe we can ask Maria to make one for us and we’ll watch her!”

“That’s probably our best idea without asking for help and getting caught…” Charley said, earning nods of agreement.

“So what else do we need for this date Alice?” Boris asked and Alice frowned.

"Well, I think-"

" _What_?!" The toons all jumped at the sound of Henry’s voice. "Maria?! How long was I actually gone for?!" The toons exchanged looks of confusion between each other before creeping towards the living room and saw a man in a business suit keeping Henry on his feet, stunned horror obvious as he ran his hands through his hair.

"It was almost two weeks Henry," Maria said gently, leaning against the closed door. "I knew you weren't going to only stay for three days, given past experiences, so I made the choice to wait at least a week or two…A stupid idea, yeah, but I don’t have the energy to listen to the ramblings of a madman.”

“I wouldn’t call either one of them a madman Maria,” Nathan argued. “Eccentric, or quirky, sure but you do remember the amount of times I had to bail out…” Nathan trailed off as he stared at the toons. Maria looked at the direction he was staring at and let out a tired sigh before looking at her husband.

“I’ll put a pot on and meet all of you in the living room.” She said before walking to the kitchen, leaving the confused studio head, the concerned toons, and the very stressed former animator to slowly make their way to the living room.


	7. Chapter 7

…

There was an uncomfortable silence as the toons shifted in their seats, sitting on either side of Henry on the couch, while Nathan sat himself on the recliner.

“Don’t worry, nobody’s in trouble,” Nathan said, obviously trying to keep things light for the toons. “Well, maybe Joseph ‘n Joel, but that’s a normal occurrence when it comes to the Drews,”

“I still have the photos of that anniversary party Nathan.” Maria stated simply, coming back with mugs of coffee and hot chocolate. "So don't be throwing stones in glass houses." Nathan’s face went pink, making a face as Maria looked at her husband. “Henry, you don’t have to go into detail about what happened, but you need to at least tell us what happened,” Nathan nodded.

“Yeah, cause last time I saw either one of them, there was no mention of….you guys,” Nathan said, gesturing to the toons, failing to hide the flabbergasted tone in his voice. “And I know neither one of them wouldn’t hide this for long.” The toons looked at each other in confusion as Henry sighed, taking a cup of coffee, readying himself for a very long conversation. After he took a long sip of his drink, he spoke.

“I got a letter from Joey, saying there was something at the studio he wanted to show me…”

“Was it Joel or Joseph who sent it?” Henry shrugged.

“It looked like Joel’s handwriting, but it was just Joey on the letter; I mean it’s been a few years since I got a letter exclusively for me from either one…”

“Wait, what are you guys talking about?” Bendy interjected. “There’s only one Joey….right?”

“Joey was a nickname my brothers shared and since their names were both on the building’s lease, it made sense to name the studio Joey.” Maria said, refusing to look at the toons as they stared at her, eyes widening in horror and shock, instead focusing on her husband, who was staring into the coffee cup.

“It didn’t really matter which one it was,” Henry said softly. “He responded to Joey or Bendy when he was chasing us down,” Nathan and Maria looked at Henry in confusion before the man in question continued, explaining how he turned on the machine, encountered a monstrous mockery of Bendy before he had encountered Sammy. He quickly skimmed over the whole ‘being kidnapped to be a sacrifice’ part of that meeting, and Bendy piped in with finding Henry with Boris, who nodded, but he was distracted, no doubt still thinking about the revelation about the Drew Family.

“Well, sounds like it was a good thing you fellas found Henry…” Nathan said lightly. “The Ink Machine sounds like something that GENT company would make, just by how ridiculous it was to turn it on.”

“Not as ridiculous as turning it on without knowing what it does!” Maria argued. “Henry, why did you turn it on?” Henry shrugged.

“I was curious about it, and I thought it was the only way to access the rest of the studio…” He said sheepishly, avoiding the look his wife was giving him. “I mean it wouldn’t be the first time that happened…” Maria groaned loudly, wiping her face.

"How the hell did you get out?" Nathan asked slowly. Henry sighed and continued his story, pausing every once and a while to steady himself. He explained how he and the two toons made their way through the toy department, rescuing Alice and the Butcher Gang from the Fake Angel, then making their way to Joey’s office before making their escape. Maria and Nathan both seemed to sense that Henry was quickly glossing over things in his story, but given how shaky he was as he finished, they didn’t say anything.

“So it’s all good now!” Bendy said, forcing a smile. “We got out and now we’re here!” Bendy’s smile faltered as there wasn’t much mutual agreement with his statement. Nathan ran a hand through his hair, sighing.

“I like the optimism, but this is not at all good…” Nathan said. “I mean, this is definitely something that the police will have to know, especially since that may be where his body is…”

“He’s not dead though,” Charley pointed out. “We trapped him in the Ink Machine and while it’s not really a long term solution, it didn’t kill him.” Nathan made a face.

“No, that’s not what I meant; I mean Joey’s body-be it Joseph or Joel-not some failed experiment at making y’all.” There was a long uncomfortable silence as Nathan's face went pale and the color drained from Maria’s.

“It was Joey.” Henry said softly. “He-”

“I’m going to bed.” Maria suddenly stood up, startling Henry and the toons. “Good night.” She quickly stormed away from the living room. Henry looked up and quickly got to his feet.

“Wait, Maria-”

“Henry,” Nathan took Henry’s arm, standing up as well. “You can’t go after her,” Henry turned and stared at Nathan like he had lost it. “You just implied to her that her brother tried killing you multiple times and is now an abomination against man and God you trapped in a piece of machinery! It’s a miracle she didn’t leave earlier!”

“But-”

“But nothing,” Nathan said firmly. “Henry, you got to understand her side of things on this; her brother goes missing; you leave and disappear for two weeks; and to top if off, she has to pretend that everything’s all fine and dandy while she’s being interviewed for the anniversary collection.” Henry gave Nathan a lidded look. “Look, I try to make sure my employees are graceful but there’s a lot of the kids who are more flexible than an Olympic gymnast with how well they stick their feet in their mouths when it comes to the reputation of the old studio.” Nathan sighed. “I’ll go check on her, but you got to be patient with her as much as she is with you; she’s stubborn Henry, and it's not like she doesn't still have walls when it comes to those two.” Henry made a face.

“Since when are you so eloquent?” Nathan shrugged, a mischievous smile on his face.

“I’m just full of surprises.” He said before sighing and adjusting his jacket. “I’ll go see how she’s doing,” Without another word, he left the living room, leaving an uncomfortable silence behind. Henry slumped back into the couch and wiped his face, all energy pretty much abandoning him. Boris helped him settle back into the couch, while Barley hopped off the couch and grabbed the throw blanket off the chair Nathan sat in, bringing it over to their creator, and with the help of the other toons, wrapped Henry up in the blanket. Henry chuckled gently.

"Thank you guys...I appreciate it," He said gently. "We got this…"

“Y-Yeah!” Edgar weakly agreed. “We totally got it!” The other toons nodded in agreement and Henry couldn’t help but smile slightly as he got a group hug from the toons.

.

* * *

.

_“I’m not doing any interviews.”_

_“I’m not here for that Maria, I’m not always about business.” Maria raised an eyebrow._

_“Uh huh,”_

_“I just wanted to make sure how my family friends are doing,” Maria shrugged as she let the man into her home._

_“I’m tired...lost the battle with the rose bush,” Nathan raised an eyebrow as she showed off the bandages on her fingertips “Henry’s off visiting the old studio, so I had to prune the bush myself.”_

_“Why is he at the studio?” Maria shrugged as she shut the door behind Nathan._

_“One of the boys sent him a letter; he didn’t really tell me what it was about, only that there’s something for him to see.”_

_“Joel hasn’t said anything about going back to the studio when I’ve seen him in the meetings for the collection, if anything, he’s been pretty adamant about moving on from the studio…”_

_“Well he’s going to have an uphill battle with Joseph regarding that,” Maria laughed. “Do you want something to drink?” Nathan looked at Maria, concern obvious as she walked towards the kitchen._

_“You didn’t get a visit from the officers yet?” Maria stopped and turned back to Nathan._

_“What?” She asked slowly. “Nathan, what are you talking about?”_

_“No one’s been able to get in contact with Joseph for the past week and a half. A police report has been filed, but there’s no lead…” Maria’s eyes widened in horror._

_“What?!”_

_“Nobody’s seen him and while he could be just up to trouble, you know it isn’t like him to not make an announcement like that…” Maria was quiet, doing her best to organize her feelings and worries regarding her brother; sure their relationship wasn’t the greatest, but he was still family. Nathan took her shoulder. “When did Henry go to the studio?”_

_“T-Two days ago, he said he’d be gone a few days,”_

_“How many?”_

_“Three, but you know how he and the boys are...I’m going to give it at least a week and a half, maybe two…” Nathan gave Maria a look._

_“Maria,”_

_“I know, I know, but Henry can handle himself,” She said firmly before quietly adding. “And I know the moment Joseph sees me at the studio, he’ll go on a tirade as bad as before…Well I mean that’s even if he’s there at the studio!” Maria wiped her face as Nathan took her shoulder comfortingly. “Have the police investigated the studio already?” Nathan shrugged._

_“Not sure, they just asked if I had seen Joseph the other day...I’ll talk to the sheriff and see if it’ll be a good idea and check the studio, it has been a while since anybody’s been there and it was a walking violation when it was running…” Nathan made a face. “I’ll swing down by the studio this weekend and check and see if I can find Henry, alright? I’ll make it seem like I’m looking for some extra things to sell with the anniversary collection ok? That way if Joseph’s there, no one’s the wiser, ok?” Maria smiled slightly as he gave her a side hug._

_“Thank you Nathan…I do appreciate it.”_

_“It’s the least I can do for a family friend,”_


	8. Chapter 8

….

Later that night, Bendy crept to the kitchen, hoping to quietly grab one of the small sweets that Henry and Maria kept in a bowl on the kitchen table, when he saw Maria sitting at the table and painting.

“Oh, hello there Bendy,” Maria said gently, turning to look at him. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Oh no, no not at all!” Bendy said quickly. “I was just surprised that you’re up…” He chuckled sheepishly, wondering how he should go about talking to her; obviously she wasn’t Joey, and clearly Henry trusted her, but the revelation of earlier this evening still made the darling demon uneasy. He noticed the canvas that she was working on. “Oh, what are you painting?” Maria looked at the painting and let out a small sigh.

“Not really sure; I’m just letting my mind wander...My mother was adamant that a lady had to know all sorts of ways to entertain guests and painting was one of them,”

“...How does that entertain people?” Maria shrugged.

“I don’t know, but it at least was something to do when I was waiting on the boys before I went to work for the hospital,” 

“You worked at the studio?” He asked, coming up onto a chair.

“Not technically,” She said, turning back to her painting and picking a new color to paint with. “I mean until Joel hired someone for the infirmary, I was usually the one that helped when there were small injuries, but it was more I was the only one who knew how to do first aid and could do it while making sure there wasn’t any scolding from the boss at the same time. Sometimes I would help with the backgrounds, but not that often because the accountant would blow a gasket because I wasn’t being paid and that was just asking for trouble,” Bendy nodded slowly; he faintly recalled a few times he’d hear a man argue with Joey in the office before things had gone bad and inky, yelling about money, only for Joey to lead him out of the office and brushing aside the concerns the other man had. “I wasn’t really much for animation, that was Joseph and Joel,” She shrugged and the kitchen became quiet again. After a few moments, Maria spoke up. “It was actually when I was painting in the lobby that I met Henry.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Maria smiled softly. “He was hired and starting that day, and he caught me painting the lobby wall." Bendy gasped.

"Why would you do that?!" Maria shrugged.

"Joseph wouldn't let me borrow any of the sketchbooks or pieces of paper and yet he told me to do something until he was done, as Joel was busy at the dentist and I didn’t have lessons," She said with a chuckle. "But Henry didn't know that so he told me I shouldn't be doing that, and well, I told him in not as many words to mind his own business," Maria’s face flushed in embarrassment at the memory. "I was rather irritated that day so I wasn't going to take a random stranger telling me what to do," Bendy’s face was priceless. "And he didn't know I was his bosses's sister so he stood his ground and argued with me about it." Bendy’s eyes went wide.

"No way!"

"Oh yes, it was rather embarrassing for the both of us," She said with a chuckle. "Thankfully only Norman caught us and explained to Henry who I was, and Henry’s face turned about as red as the tablecloth!" 

"He probably thought he’d get fired!” Bendy exclaimed, though he tried to keep it down. Maria chuckled.

“I doubt he would’ve been fired; Henry knows his way around the animating side of things, and he’s a very talented artist. And besides, both Joel and Joseph would’ve kept him on board to spite me anyways,”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Henry and I obviously didn’t get off on the right foot, and I found him quite obnoxious for a while,” Maria explained. “And sometimes older brothers want to annoy you in any way shape and form.”

“Oh, kinda like how sometimes in the shorts Alice would get over dramatic over nothin’?” Maria nodded.

“Something similar, yes…” The conversation went quiet for a little bit before Bendy spoke up.

“Did you keep calling Joey Mr. Drew so we wouldn’t know?” Maria shook her head quickly.

“No, no, I didn't do it to try and hide it from you all; it’s an old habit back when the shorts were very popular; I didn’t want people to realize that I was that connected to the studio, because they would want to ask me all sorts of questions, and I didn’t want to deal with that everyday.” Maria placed the paint brush down and faced Bendy. “I have a very strained relationship with both my brothers, even before I married Henry, and I wanted very little to do with the studio, at least when it came to my brothers. The people who worked there were delightful, and of course Henry grew on me,” She chuckled softly. “I suppose it was my way of making sure I wasn’t just lumped in with my brothers.” Bendy nodded slowly.

“Cause you’re you, not Joey-er-both of them?” Bendy shook his head. “That’s kinda confusing, I’m not going to lie…”

“I completely understand, Bendy,” Maria said. “Trust me, you’re not alone in that. My parents were lovely people, but they were not very creative individuals when it came to names,” Bendy chuckled slightly. “But you’re right, I am my own person, not just the little sister of the famous Joey Drew,” She sighed softly before looking back at Bendy. “Do you remember what he looked like? I mean before he was...you know,” Bendy scrunched up his face, trying to pull up memories of seeing the man before he had taken on the monstrous form that terrorized him and the others.

“Um…he had dark hair….and a mustache?” Bendy said slowly. “I-I didn’t really see him a lot in really good light...he said it wasn’t time to be seen yet a lot…Mostly only Sammy talked to us, but he was kinda kooky…”

“Sammy Lawrence?” Bendy nodded and Maria chuckled. “That has always been a thing with that man. I think the only thing he was normal about was fighting Wally for an extra piece of chocolate cake.”

“Oh! Henry says you make the best cake!” Bendy piped up and Maria chuckled.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the best, but I do have a lot of practice,” She teased with a wink. “Maybe sometime this week we can-”

_CRASH!_

Maria and Bendy jumped as they heard something crash in the backyard. Without a moment of hesitation, Maria stood and grabbed one of the pans that had been drying on the counter and headed for the door to the back patio.

“Bendy, I want you to stay in the house,” She ordered and Bendy weakly nodded.

“S-Should I get Henry?” 

“It may just be some drunk teenagers,” Maria said as she turned on the patio lights and looked out there. There was a long pause before Maria turned back to Bendy. “Boris was the only one who wore white overalls, right?” Bendy made a face before scurrying over to the door and seeing a familiar pair of shapes staring at the patio, one of them stuck in the rose bush. His eyes widened as he realized who they were.

“I-I’ll get Henry!"

.

* * *

.

“There we go, that should somewhat keep the mess down,” Maria said with a mildly triumphant huff as she placed the towels on the couch and chairs. The inky humanoid with the white overalls just stared at the blue towels, like he had never seen such a thing. “You can sit down on these towels…”

“They are...bright…” 

“They’re towels.” There was an irritated whirr from the creature that had a projector where a normal head would be and the overall wearing creature looked nervously at the other before carefully sitting down on the toweled couch. The projector headed creature nodded and sat down in the chair that had another towel on it. Maria crossed her arms as she looked at Henry. “For a pair of dead men, they certainly made an impression in the rose bush.” 

“How…” Henry asked slowly. “The Ink Demon killed both of you,”

“We were reformed, given new life…” The overall wearing one, Sammy, said, though he was clearly distracted by the towel and the color in the living room.

“Excuse me?” Sammy looked up at Maria.

“Reformed, given a second chance by-” There was a low whirring sound from the projector headed creature and Sammy curled into himself. “I-I mean w-we don’t know…forgive me, the hold of the False One still strong enough to cloud my judgement…” Sammy devolved into some mumbling and Henry looked at his wife, just as perplexed by this as she was.

“How did you find the house?” Henry asked and the projector headed creature made a motion, gesturing to his forearm. Henry went pale and looked at his own forearm, the marking making a slight glow. "Oh…" Maria looked at her husband.

“That’s certainly one reaction to that…” Maria pointed out before sighing and turning to the toons. “Are you all alright?” Various nods were the answer and Maria offered a smile. “Would you all like to help me make breakfast?”

“Break...fast?” Sammy echoed, and Maria turned back to him.

“I mean it is 3 in the morning, so it’s technically breakfast time.” She said simply. “And we’re going to have a long conversation with you two,”

“You’re going to trust them?” Charley asked slowly and Maria shrugged.

“You haven’t seen my left hook.” The projector headed creature made the motions of catching his laugh, though it more sounded like a low growl and groaning as the toons were split between looking at Maria and looking at the creature. Even Henry was startled by that as Maria adjusted her robe, not even remotely phased by the reactions. “So long as they behave, I won’t call the sheriff and they won’t have to deal with me.” With a strut, Maria made her way to the kitchen and Henry let out a weak chuckle.

“That woman is something else…” Sammy muttered loudly.

“Well I like her!” Edgar argued before huffing and scurrying to the kitchen, earning some chuckles from the other two members of the Butcher Gang. Henry smiled and looked back at two ink creatures and sighed. He sat on the open chair and faced the two.

“What else do you two remember after...you reformed?” Sammy pulled his knees to his chest.

“Not much….only Norman truly recalls...everything.” There was some whirring and Sammy leaned forward, facing the projector headed creature. “You’re the only projectionist Joey Drew ever fucking hired! Of course you’re Norman!” Bendy and Alice gasped as Boris gave Sammy a glare.

“We’ll go help Maria,” Barley said, he and Charley ushering the other three into the kitchen, though there were some death glares from them towards the former Music Director. Henry barely fought back a smile as he watched them leave before turning back to the two ink creatures. Sammy, despite not having any visible facial features, glared at Henry.

“Not a word.”


	9. Chapter 9

….

Sammy and Norman in the house was an  _ interesting _ experience to say the least.

While it was clear the two weren't going to hurt the toons or the humans, Sammy hadn't been joking about the hold of this "False One" as more than once Maria or Henry would catch him attempting to paint sigils on the wall or attempting to use candles in inopportune places. 

"I don't care if this is ridiculous; you made the mess and you're going to clean up." Maria ordered as she handed the yellow gloves to the inky man and got him to work on his recent mess. "It's a miracle you only grab the paint I have for the twins,"

"Twins?" Maria turned to Charley.

"One of the neighbors has twins and sometimes Henry and I watch them when they’re busy. They're still pretty young, so I make sure they have the washable paints." Maria explained. “They’re off in Florida right now, visiting family…You’ll probably meet them soon though,” Charley nodded as Sammy grumbled, scrubbing the wall before the phone rang. Maria headed over to the phone on the wall and picked it up. “Ozell residence, this is Maria-Oh! Tom!” Sammy’s head immediately snapped up as he stared at the woman, eyes wide. “I’m glad my message got to you; you know how the phones act up sometimes.” She nodded. “Ah yes, Henry’s back home, well, he’s speaking with the sheriff regarding Joseph and what he found at the studio-He’ll be back by 3 this afternoon if you’d like to stop by and meet everyone...of course you can bring your wife, it’s not a problem at all! Uh huh, that would be wonderful Tom, thank you-yes I’ll make sure I’ll make a cake for you to take home,” Maria chuckled. “Will do, and thank you again Tom...see you soon.” Maria hung up and looked over at the toon and the man, making a face of confusion as Sammy stared at her. “Is something wrong Sammy?”

“Tom...escaped?”

“What do you mean?” Maria asked slowly. “Tom left the studio back in ‘46…that was almost ten years ago…” Sammy’s eyes went wide.

“W-What? No...he was trapped with us...he was always with an angel…”

“Sammy,” Maria said gently, getting on a knee to take the inky man’s shoulder. “I’m talking about a man named Thomas Conner; he’s probably a different person than whoever you’re thinking about. Tom is a very popular nickname after all,” Sammy furrowed his brows.

“I suppose you are correct…”

“I never saw anybody with that fake angel though…” Charley pointed out, shuddering at the memory. “It was just her and searchers.” Sammy turned to Charley in confusion and Maria sighed.

“We can figure it out later, for now, let’s focus on getting this mess cleaned up and then getting to work on getting lunch ready and the cakes done, ok?” Maria said, grabbing the attention. The two nodded slowly, though it was clear that they were still thinking about it.

.

* * *

.

_ “Don’t tell Joseph I’m here.” Thomas raised an eyebrow as the woman stormed past him and slammed the door behind her. Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle. _

_ “Alright, just do me a favor and hand me the wrench,” He said and within a few moments, a pipe wrench was placed in his hand. Thomas raised an eyebrow. _

_ “I didn’t see any of the smaller ones, and by the looks of that, you’re going to need this,” Thomas looked over at the pipe he was installing and then back to the youngest Drew, who shrugged. “Wally has been telling me about the mechanic work he’s been doing, when he’s supposed to be cleaning. It keeps Sammy from yelling at him for losing his keys and gives me someone to talk to at least.” Thomas snorted and turned back to his work. _

_ “Good to know that Mr. Lawrence isn’t that stupid,” He said. “As for Mr. Franks, I’d take whatever he says with a grain of salt. He’s a good kid, but he’s flighty. I’ve had to explain the plans for this machine at least three times and I still don’t think he’s got it.” The woman nodded slowly as Thomas finished up with _

_ “What is this machine for anyways?”  _

_ “Joey’s got some big plans for the shorts, at least that’s what he’s been prattling to me.” _

_ “Which one?” Thomas turned to the woman, confusion obvious. “Joey’s the nickname,” _

_ “He just introduced himself as Joey Drew…?” The woman sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. _

_ “Joel’s going to kill him…” She grumbled before she explained. “My brothers share the nickname, like they share the studio, but Joseph’s been pulling stunts like this for a while...” _

_ “I see...I suppose I’ve been talking to Joseph then…” _

_ “If he’s got the spindly mustache he’s been trying to hide how thin it actually is and wears a stupidly colored tie, then yes, that’s Joseph.” Thomas snorted.  _

_ “You said it, not me Mrs. Drew,” _

_ “Mrs. Drew’s my mother Mr. Conner, my name is Maria,” Thomas nodded with a chuckle. _

_ “Understood.” Maria studied him for a moment before chuckling softly. _

_ “You at least took the news of being a Drew better than that new hire, Henry I think his name was,” She said and Thomas shrugged, a playful smile on his face. _

_ “Well, I may not know Henry that well, but I know enough about him that it wouldn’t be too out there to say that he’s pretty smitten with you and you being his boss’s sister has thrown a pipe wrench into that.” Maria’s face went bright red as she crossed her arms. _

_ “T-That is certainly an assumption Mr. Conner.” She managed to stumble out as Henry walked into the room. _

_ “Ah, Thomas!” Henry said. “Joey’s wanting to speak with you in his office. Oh! Miss Maria, I didn’t realize you were down here as well…Allison mentioned she was looking for you,” _

_ “I’ll go find her.” Maria said quickly and hurried past Henry, muttering her goodbyes to the two. Henry watched her leave before looking at Thomas. _

_ “I didn’t offend her again, did I?” Thomas bit back a laugh and shook his head. _

_ “No, she’s just dealing with a few things,” He said as he put his toolbox up where Wally or Shawn couldn’t ‘accidently’ borrow it before walking towards Henry. “Now, did Joey actually tell you what he needs me for?” _

_ “Well, not exactly, he said that it involves the newest project,” Henry said as the two of them walked back towards the office, talking about and theorizing what Joey was planning. _

.

* * *

.

“Who’s that?” Thomas Conner blinked slowly as he stared at the toons staring back at him as Maria opened the door to let him and Allison in.

“He did actually make that thing work…” Thomas managed out slowly as he got to a knee and looked closer at Bendy. “You’re actually on model…” The demon sheepishly nodded as Allison was understandably shocked as she stared at the toon.

“H-How…” She managed out slowly.

“Henry went to the old studio,” Maria said and Tom wiped his face.

“Of course he did.” He grumbled as he got to his feet. “At least he’ll be able to explain himself..”

“Well, he’s busy helping Barley and Charley and Boris set up the bed frame!” Bendy explained proudly, earning another look of confusion and shock from the others. Maria chuckled slightly. 

“Bendy, why don’t you go check on the boys and ask them to come down to the living room,” She said and the demon nodded before scurrying off. She turned back to the two and smiled weakly. “It’s been a few surprising weeks…”

“Clearly,” Thomas said as Maria led them to the living room, where thankfully the others weren’t there just yet. “Granted I haven’t seen Joseph since he fired me and broke the contract with the GENT company, but he didn’t hire anybody else from the company to continue working on the machine.”

“So it was a GENT machine…” Maria said, before sighing. “Nathan will be happy he was right…” Allison offered a comforting pat on Maria’s shoulder.

“He mentioned Boris, Barley, and Charley,” Thomas asked after a few moments. “Is it safe to assume that’s not it?” Maria chuckled.

“Edgar and Alice are helping Sammy and Norman with fixing my rose bush…” Thomas threw his hands up in the air, obviously not thrilled about being right as Allison’s eyes widened.

“R-Really?” She asked. “I would’ve figured Mr. Drew would’ve tried to get rid of all evidence of the character, given how poorly her shorts did…” Maria scoffed.

“That would’ve meant admitting he was wrong,” Thomas snorted as the door to the back opened and the toons and the two ink creatures came into the living room.

“We fixed the rose bush!” Alice said proudly before seeing the two adults staring at them. “Who are you?”

“Thomas, Allison, this is Edgar, Alice, Norman, and Sammy. Everyone, this is Thomas and Allison Conner.” Maria introduced. “Henry should be joining us soon enough,” There was some whirring of the projector from Norman. 

“I do not understand…” Sammy said slowly. “You...don’t look like the man who built the machine…but your voice is the same…” Thomas gave the former director a lidded glare as Allison squatted down to be at Alice’s eye level.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Alice,” She said, offering her hand. “I suppose Henry and Maria have already told you that I was one of your voice actresses,” Alice made a face of confusion.

“Allison Pendle was one of my voice actresses…” Maria chuckled nervously.

“It didn’t click for me that you and Tom were married,” Maria explained with a sheepishly laugh, rubbing the back of her head. “I mean I knew you were an actress with Nathan’s studio, but it never clicked,” Allison laughed.

“It’s perfectly alright!” She said before turning back to Alice. “Pendle was my maiden name, but I changed it when I married Thomas,” Thomas’s face flushed slightly as he tried to look casually as there was a whirring sound from Norman that sounded like he wasn’t completely surprised about that. Edgar’s eyes went wide.

“That means you and him can do that kitchen dance Bendy was telling me about!” Maria’s face went bright red, quickly covering her face in embarrassment, as Henry came into the living room, followed by everyone else. 

“Kitchen...dance?” Allison asked slowly.

“Yeah!” Edgar exclaimed. “Bendy, tell ‘em about the kitchen dance!” Bendy lit up in delight.

“Oh yeah! Henry said that’s what he and Maria were doing the other day when I walked in on them!” Thomas stared at Henry, who was trying to avoid looking at the other adults. “He says you have to be married though and wouldn’t tell me how to do it.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of any dance like that,” Thomas chuckled before gesturing to the couch. “I suppose we’ve got quite a bit to talk about, don’t we Henry?”

“J-Just a bit Tom…”


	10. Chapter 10

...

“It smells so good!!” Boris exclaimed excitedly, sitting in front of the oven, watching the cakes bake. Henry, Thomas, and both Sammy and Norman were still talking to each other about the studio, but Maria and Allison had ushered the toons into the kitchen to help with the cakes, both sensing they were getting antsy with just sitting around and talking about an uncomfortable topic.

“It does!” Edgar said excitedly, sitting in the wolf’s lap. “I can’t wait to eat it!”

“Do you do a lot of baking?” Alice asked, looking up at Allison, who chuckled.

“If I have time I try, but I’ve been pretty busy with work,” She said, leaning against the counter. “Filming takes quite a while, and that’s not including retakes and when someone forgets a line.”

“Forgets a line?” Bendy asked slowly. “That doesn’t sound good,”

“No, it’s not,” Allison said gently. “But it is pretty funny, and all of us know that it wasn’t intentional and so long as we get the job done, it’s all good.” The toons looked confused and concerned and Allison looked at Maria, who didn’t look surprised given the talks regarding the idea of “perfection” she had with a few of them.

“Maybe Nathan would be alright with giving you all a tour of the studio...I’m sure he’d be over the moon with the potential business that would drum up.” Allison chuckled.

“I think it would be fun to introduce everyone to you guys; you all are pretty popular at the studio.” The toons looked at each other in confusion but also in excitement.

“Really?”

“Of course! Mr. Arch has the shorts playing for the younger actors in the green room,” Allison said brightly. “I believe he’s said more than once that he’s said that the shorts were something else,” Maria snorted.

“He’s something else,” She said with a chuckle. “Boris, you and Edgar better scoot so I can check the cakes, ok?”

“You bet!!” The duo scrambled out of the way as Maria walked to the oven to check on it. 

“Could you tell us about the filming studio?” Alice asked sheepishly and Allison chuckled.

“Of course, let me start when I first get to the studio,” The toons listened in rapt attention as Maria opened the oven and checked the cake; while she had been partially joking about letting them go on a tour, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for the toons to see how an actual studio worked and not have their only frame of reference be Joey Drew Studios. Maria made the mental note to talk to Henry about it later, once Tom and Allison had gone home. She sighed softly as she took the cake out of the oven; there still hadn’t been any news regarding her brother, even with the new information Henry gave the sheriff. She sighed softly to herself as she took out the cake and placed it on the stove.

“I guess I should call Joel and tell him about this…”She whispered to herself. “They were his too after all…” 

.

* * *

.

“I have no idea what that’s supposed to be.” Thomas noted as he looked at the marking on Henry’s forearm. “Any idea how you got it?” Henry shrugged.

“I walked into a room that I didn’t realize had a pentagram on the floor, I blacked out, and then I woke up with it.” Thomas stared at Henry. 

"You didn't realize a pentagram on the floor." 

“I was distracted by the coffins.”

“Coffins.” Thomas turned to Sammy and Norman. “What the fuck?”

“I was busy dying of ink poisoning and the False One taking control of my mind so I can’t help you there.” There was an annoyed sounding whirr from Norman, the man shaking his head. “And he got murdered the first time so yeah.”

“The first time?” Henry and Thomas asked in unison.

“He’s nosy.” Was all Sammy said on the subject, Norman making another whirr of annoyance.

“I’ll see what I can find when I get back to the house regarding...the speaker…” Thomas said slowly. “That probably will help some…” He turned back to Henry. “Does Joel know about this at all or is this just you and Maria dealing with this?” Henry chuckled nervously.

“Funny you should mention that...I mean...the toons just found out recently that there’s two Joeys…” Thomas sighed as Norman and Sammy exchanged looks.

“Two...Joeys…” Sammy said slowly, obviously racking his mind for memories that were not there. 

“Joseph and Joel Drew shared the nickname,” Henry said slowly. “It was weird, yeah, but according to Maria, that had been a thing since they were kids,”

“Maria…” Henry made a face.

“Sammy, do you not remember anything of the studio before it went to hell? You had a field day when I had asked about her my first week.” Henry rubbed the back of his head and Thomas snorted.

“You have no poker face Henry; you never have, and you never will.” Henry’s face flushed as Norman, despite having a projector for a head, looked delightfully smug about the fact that despite the number of years that had passed, it seemed like nothing really changed.

.

* * *

.

_"I can't believe these two,"_

_"Miss Maria?" Maria turned to see Henry with a cup in one hand and several papers askew in the other. "Is there something wrong?"_

_"Boris was the name of my stuffed dog toy when I was a child," She said, gesturing to the Boris Short playing in the other room. She sighed as she turned her attention back to Henry. “When I couldn’t sleep, they’d work together to tell me stories about the adventures he had when I was at school,”_

_“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Henry said, rubbing the back of his head. The woman shrugged._

_“I suppose, but it’s just so embarrassing,” She said. “I barely get them to treat me like a grown woman, and this certainly won’t help any,”_

_“Family can be like that sometimes,” He offered gently. “It’s probably just a weird way to show that they really enjoyed telling you stories,” Maria didn’t look convinced but she didn’t say anything. Instead she studied Henry for a moment._

_“Don’t you have a bag or something to carry all of that?” Henry looked at her in confusion. “You’re dropping papers,” Henry looked down and scrambled to figure out how to pick up the papers without spilling his coffee. Maria chuckled and bent to pick up the papers for him._

_“Ah, Miss Maria, you don’t need to do-”_

_“You’ll make a bigger mess Henry.” She said simply as she finished picking it up and took the rest of the papers from him. She shuffled the papers and made a neat pile in her arms. “There,”_

_“T-Thank you Miss Maria...I can-”_

_“I could use the walk to your desk Henry.” She said, shutting down the idea that he could avoid the risk of embarrassing himself further. “Perhaps you can tell me about this Bendy fella?” Henry’s eyes lit up in excitement; sure Joey was delighted by the idea of the character, but he was his boss and probably more excited about the potential business path than the character itself._

_“S-Sure!”_

.

* * *

.

“This should be the address,” Joel looked over his glasses, double checking the address that Nathan had given him when he asked for his sister’s address. Not that he hadn’t had the address already, but one couldn’t be too careful nowadays and it had been a bit since he sent anything to them, let alone visited. “Perfect,” He mumbled and started to partially hobble up the driveway, patting the letter he had received with her handwriting on it in his jacket absently. “Hopefully she doesn’t mind me surprising her here, instead of going to that hell hole.” He muttered to himself. “This surprise outta be something to have _her_ want to go back…” He huffed before beginning to hum one of the old songs before getting to the front door. Once he rang the doorbell he stepped back and looked back at the car in the driveway. “I wonder how she managed to convince Henry to get rid of that old rust bucket of his…” The door opened and Joel turned back to the door. “Ah, Maria, I know this is…” Joel blinked a few times, not seeing Maria before looking down at the two members of the Butcher Gang. Joel blinked slowly, trying to process what he was seeing. “You two aren’t my sister…”

“What? Joel?” Henry’s voice came from inside the house before a few moments later Henry came up to the door. “J-Joe-Joel? Why are you here?” Joel chuckled gently and leaned on his walking cane.

“Maria sent me a letter asking me to come down to the studio; apparently there’s some sort of surprise I should go check out, and general catching up I suppose...I figured I’d come down and ask her before heading down there, you know, to avoid going back there.” Henry blinked slowly, staring at the man, before his eyes widened and the color drained from his face. “Henry? Are you alright…?”

“It was a trap…”

“What? Henry, what are you talking about?” Henry didn’t answer, leaning against the door jam, looking worse for wear as Thomas came to the front door, surprising Joel. “Oh, Mr. Conner, why are you at Henry’s….and what’s...going on?” Thomas looked at the older man before looking at Henry and sighed, further confusing Joel.

“You two, go grab Maria and let her know that Joel’s here…” Charley and Barley nodded and hurried towards the back as Thomas helped Henry off the door frame, before looking back at Joel. "It's a long story, come on in," Joel carefully walked into the living and stopped as he saw Norman and Sammy.

“What the-”

“It’s part of the long story.” Was all Thomas said as he got Henry to the couch. Joel stared at Thomas as Maria came out from the kitchen.

“Barley and Charley said that-Joel!?” Maria exclaimed. “What are you doing here?” Joel shrugged.

“You sent me a letter and since I have a history with the studio, I figured I’d try and see what surprise you were talking about.” Maria stared at her brother.

“What? What are you talking about Joel? I haven’t sent you any letters,” Joel pulled out the letter, further confusing his sister. “I’m serious Joel! I didn’t send you anything!” She crossed over and snatched the letter. She read it over several times and made a face. “Joel...I didn’t write this…Why would I even ask you to come to the studio?”

“It’s your handwriting,” Joel argued before his eyes widened as he saw the toons peeking around the corner. “What in God’s name…”

“That’s not Joey…right?” Boris said slowly. 

“Yeah, he’s much older than in the photos we found…” Alice noted.

“But the photos were from a long time ago.” Edgar pointed out. “And inky too…” Joel turned to his sister.

“Is there a reason I’m getting called out by living cartoon characters?” Maria just let out a long sigh.

“You’re going to need to sit for Joel...it’s a very, very, long story.”


	11. Chapter 11

…

The toons were confused, understandably, with seeing Joel. While much older than any picture of Joey they had ever found in the studio, there were still some unnerving similarities to the man that had tormented them for so long but they knew he wasn’t that man. The Joey they knew was a literal monster and currently trapped in the machine, bound there ironically by the very magic he had forced on Henry. The Joey that was sitting next to his sister, listening to the explanation of what was going on, was obviously older but he also seemed nicer and more relaxed, even with the situation. Bendy noticed that he leaned on the walking cane, even sitting, and part of him wondered if the old wheelchair Joey hated belonged to him. Allison was standing with the toons, and offered a smile.

“Do you guys want to help me with the cake?” She asked. “There’s probably enough for everyone if I cut it right,” 

“Ok,” The toons followed her back into the kitchen and Allison started grabbing the plates.

“Do you know that guy?” Charley asked slowly.

“He was one of the original owners,” Allison explained. “He actually hired me as an additional actress,” 

“He’s why Susie was replaced?” Alice exclaimed, worried that such a nice looking man was the reason Susie was so angry. Allison shook her head quickly.

“No, he hired me because as much as Susie was talented, it wasn’t fair for her to voice all the female looking characters,” Allison chuckled. “His brother was the one to make the voice change; Joseph seemed to make a lot of changes without telling his brother,” 

“Really?”

“Oh yes Edgar, the arguing when they fought could wake the dead,”

“That’s not good…” Allison shrugged.

“It wasn’t, but that’s not really our business is it?” She turned and grabbed the knife and began to slice the cake. “Families are a strange thing, especially when you run a business with them, but that’s in the past, and it’s much more helpful to focus on the present and the future!” She smiled as she placed the slices on the plates. “There we go! Just enough for everyone!” She turned to the toons. “Who wants to deliver these to everyone?”

“I can!” Bendy exclaimed. “Boris’ll eat them all!”

“I wouldn’t eat _all_ of it!” Boris exclaimed. “I’d save some for you and Alice for sure!”

“Hey!” Barley argued. “What about us? We like cake too!”

“We do?”

“Of course Edgar!” Charley explained. “Cakes and pies and all sorts of treats!”

“Oh, ok!”

“Well, first let’s get the slices for Thomas and the others to them ok?” Allison said gently. “Then we can focus on our own slices,” The toons couldn’t find any argument with that, and carefully took some of the plates and headed back into the living and handed the plates of cake.

“Cake…?” Sammy asked, the childlike confusion as he took the plate rather adorable on the humanoid ink creature. Norman made some whirring sounds as Edgar handed him his plate, beaming brightly, and ignored the projector headed man’s confusion as Maria covered her smile. 

“Chocolate cake, huh?” Henry said softly as he took the plate Bendy handed him proudly. “One of the best ones you make…” Maria rolled her eyes playfully as Joel took his own plate with a chuckle.

“The only thing that saved many a company meeting,” Joel joked softly as Allison managed to hand out the forks to everyone and offered a sympathetic smile to Norman as Edgar took the fork and handed it to the man. “Still think that we should’ve done that to sell instead of that blasted soup.”

“Bacon soup is really good though!” Boris piped up, cleaning his plate with ease. “I mean I like Mrs. Maria’s bacon and pancakes more, but I still like the soup.” Maria chuckled.

“Thank you Boris, but I told you that Maria is just fine,” Boris nodded sheepishly as Alice hummed in delight, eating her cake. Bendy took a bite and his eyes widened in delight.

“It’s so good!!” Maria chuckled in embarrassment.

“I told you.” Joel said smugly before his face fell slightly. “I’m not going to lie, this is a lot to wrap my head around…but at least now I know to avoid the studio even more than already,”

“But you own it…” Sammy said slowly.

“On paper,” Joel corrected. “I left the studio when he actually went through and hired Piedmont back in...late 1945?…it was about 4 months after you stopped visiting,” Maria nodded and Henry squeezed her hand gently. Sammy nodded slowly.

“It’s still on paper,” Thomas said, ignoring the look from Boris, who was attempting the puppy eyes to get his slice. “Granted, seems weird that he wouldn’t try and scrub your name off of it.”

“Joseph may have hated my guts by the time I left, but he knew I could rally the studio far better than he could ever do and the last thing he needed was a studio walkout,” Norman whirred, nodding in agreement. “So at the time, he kept my name on the studio, and what rights I had of the shorts in exchange for me not helping everyone leave him to his delusions.” He sighed softly. “Though it looks like I should’ve…”

“I doubt you would have helped much…” Sammy mumbled. 

“I hate to say it, but given Henry and Sammy’s account, you might’ve just been another number to the body count…” Thomas said before snorting. “Or rooming in the machine with your brother,” Maria shuddered and Thomas’s face softened. “Sorry…”

“It’s alright,” Maria said after a few minutes. “It’s just...weird...I want to go down there and throttle him and I hate him for doing these horrible things, but I’m also worried about him,”

“Family’s like that,” Joel mumbled.

“At least on the positive side,” Allison said gently. “You know, if it is him and not something pretending to be him, that he’s not going anywhere,” The adults looked at Allison before Joel snorted.

“Your optimism is a miracle in itself Mrs. Conner.” He said with a laugh. “I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed.” Allison raised an eyebrow.

“And what is that supposed to mean Mr. Drew?” The older man shrugged before giving the pouty pup the rest of his cake, much to Boris’s delight and surprise. 

“I’m just saying, show business is a crazy one.” Allison rolled her eyes, smiling as Joel looked at Bendy, who was looking at him. “You look like you’ve got something on your mind...you alright?” Bendy blinked in surprise and laughed sheepishly.

“I-I was just thinking…” Joel smiled gently.

“Careful not to think too hard, it gets you into too much trouble,” He said with a wink, earning some chuckles from the toons, though Bendy was more of a sheepish smile. “It got me in trouble more than once…” Maria scoffed.

“You could be locked away in an empty room and still manage to destroy the place.” She said. “You and Henry both.” Both Henry and Joel feign various levels of offense.

“You can’t be as bad as Wally.” Sammy grumbled, earning some chuckling from Allison. “What?”

“Wally’s actually matured since he left the studio.” Sammy and Norman stared at the woman in shock. 

“He...left?” Allison nodded slowly. 

“He did, I think about a month after Mr. Drew-er-Joseph-fired me and Thomas….I believe it was a family emergency and Joseph basically said the equivalent of ‘you walk out that door, you never come back’.” The toons exchanged looks with each other and the other inky creatures; outside of Henry, Joey had never mentioned anyone else leaving the studio behind, especially not because of him.

“He’s living in Florida right now,” Joel mused, leaning on his cane. “Still sends me a postcard every once and a while,” He chuckled. “Probably a good thing Joseph didn’t like him; rather not risk a kid like that to get roped into this too…”

“Why wasn’t he fired then?” Sammy asked, raising an nonexistent eyebrow at Joel. “He always lost his keys.”

“He did decent enough at the janitor job,” Joel said. “And when Mr. Conner wasn’t in, he did his best to work on the machines.”

“And he was pleasant company when I was stuck there.” Maria added quietly, and Henry offered her a small smile.

“Well, his old audio logs were something else to listen to,” Henry chuckled.

“Oh for sure!” Boris exclaimed as he was trying to reach for Norman’s plate when Edgar wasn’t looking. “He was really funny!” 

“Yeah…” Henry said before sighing. “I don’t suppose anyone has any ideas on what the plan is going forward…”

“Well, depending on what the sheriff says, is how we’ll handle the studio.” Joel said simply. “Not going to worry until it’s time for that. I think you two are handling everybody here quite fine, and this does give me an excuse to come and visit my baby sister more often,” Maria made a face, earning some chuckling from the others. “And I’m sure I have Murray Hill’s number somewhere…”

“Who?” Bendy asked slowly, noticing that Maria’s face fell.

“He worked with Joseph regarding the original design of the machine.” Joel explained. “Shifty looking bugger, but he’s not too awful...he’s certainly mellowed after he and Joseph had that fight…”

“Fight?” Henry asked, only to Joel waved the question aside.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, it’s in the past, and at least in the present, he’s a decent fellow and he’s probably be able to at least help figure out what’s with that,” Joel gestured to the mark on Henry’s arm. Henry made a face as he tried to pull on his sleeve to cover it.

“Just be careful Joel,” Maria said tiredly. “And don’t stick your foot in your mouth.”

“Minnie!” Joel exclaimed in mock horror.

“Who’s Minnie?” Barley asked slowly as the toons saw the woman’s face go red and shoved her brother, who laughed.

“That is Maria’s childhood nickname.” Thomas explained simply. 

“It’s cute!” Edgar exclaimed and Joel shit-eating grin was not very subtle as he looked at his baby sister.

“See Minn-”

“Zip it Joe.”


	12. Chapter 12

…

The household fell into a sort of routine, following the meeting with Joel and the Conners; Thomas would visit multiple times a week to either help Norman with his speaker and projector, Sammy with the fragments of memories the former director would be able to pull up, or he’d speak with Henry as the two would piece together _how_ the machine could do any of this. Allison visited when she could, but she was extremely busy with the filming and her visits often had Alice acting as her self proclaimed ‘nurse’ and shooing the boys, Sammy and Norman included, into behaving, much to the entertainment of the adults. Joel visited a few times during the week, and he always brought stories for the toons, surprising the toons with his creativity and on the fly improving when there was a derailment.

“How?”

“I was one of the head writers Boris,” Joel explained during one of his visits. “Of course I let the other writers do their part for episodes, but I was the one to make sure that every short had a bright idea behind it!”

“He acted out a lot of the shorts back when we first started,” Henry mused softly.

“Really?” Bendy’s eyes went wide.

“Had to give the animators a frame of reference after all,” Joel said smugly. “Dottie was a good sport in humoring me in acting out the female roles when we read through the scripts,”

“Dottie?” Boris asked slowly.

“Ah, Dorothy Richards,” Joel explained sheepishly. “She was one of the interns we had at the studio, everyone called her Dot or Dottie,” He smiled gently, thinking back on memories. “Nosy kid, sticking her nose into everything, but a good kid…”

“What’s an intern?” Barley asked and Charley puffed out his chest.

“An intern is someone who’s there to learn how a job works!” He explained, as if he hadn’t asked Henry about this when he had been reading the newspaper earlier. “To learn for when they actually get a job!” 

“Then what’s the difference between them and a student?” Charley’s face fell as he didn’t have an answer prepared for that.

“Uhh…”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Joel managed out with a straight face. “Point is, she humored me when we did script readings and I appreciated it.”

“Did she leave the studio?” Alice asked worriedly and Joel shrugged.

“I’d imagine so; even if I didn’t actively tell people I was leaving, they would’ve left when they found out I wasn’t there during the studio morning meeting the following day. It happened when those two left,” The toons looked over at Henry.

“There were people who left with you?” Henry made a so-so motion.

“I’m sure a few people quit with the blow out, but it was also close to when the draft happened,” Joel nodded. “But Maria never mentioned that people left because of her…”

“What happened?” Edgar asked quietly, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to ask the question. Henry rubbed the back of his neck as Joel set his cane down against the couch, as if it was going to be a long topic.

“It was after Henry left,” Joel said solemnly. “We were having issues with meeting a rather big deadline and…”

“One of the animators was found at his desk almost dead.” Maria said, startling everyone as she came into the room to check on everyone. “He was rushed to the hospital and I happened to be one of the nurses on staff in the emergency room.”

“Oh no!” Alice exclaimed. “D-Did he…?”

“He managed to recover, but it took a very long time.” Maria said. “Once he was in the operation room, I stormed down to the studio to confront you and Joseph about it.”

“Yeah…” Joel chuckled weakly. “Everybody was understandably on edge, especially since the police basically all but shut us down for the day…” There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments.

“Let’s just say that some lines were crossed that shouldn’t have,” She said quickly. “And after that, I refused to go back to the studio or acknowledge the studio…”

“At least till Nate bought the rights,” Joel mused. “You and Henry were there for that little party,” He looked over at the toons. “You should’ve seen it, Maria and Henry looked like movie stars!” The toons’ eyes went wide in excitement.

“Really?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Henry said sheepishly, turning a shade of pink. “I mean there were _actual_ actors there, and I probably just stood out like a sore thumb, even in a tuxedo…”

“Tuxedo?” Edgar asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s a very fancy suit fellas wear at very fancy parties, or fancy dinner dates ‘n all that,” The toons nodded slowly at Joel's explanation.

“Are you going to wear a tuxedo when you go on your date with Maria?” Alice asked and Henry’s face went bright red as Joel stared at him with a smug grin.

“Yeah Henry, are ya?” Maria rolled her eyes.

“We’re a little busy for a date Joel,” Maria said. “Especially one at a fancy restaurant.” Joel looked at the toons before looking back at his sister. “I don’t like that face, Joel.” Joel grabbed his cane and pushed himself to his feet.

“Well we’ll bring the fancy here!” He proclaimed. “Just give me and the toons two hours and we’ll have everything set!”

“Really?!” Bendy hopped to his feet, the others exchanging looks.

“Of course! I’m not as quick as I used to be so I could use all the help I can get!” Henry chuckled, shaking his head as Maria rolled her eyes and chuckled.

“You will be cleaning my kitchen if you make a mess.” Joel laughed.

“I don’t doubt that in the slightest! Now, you two lovebirds go do something while we get all set up and don’t be cheating and looking in the kitchen,” He waved at the two before turning back to the toon. “Alright, to the kitchen!” Maria and Henry watched as the toons followed the man to the kitchen. 

“Well, at least I won’t have to worry about dinner…” She chuckled and Henry nodded.

“Yeah, you think that they’ll rope Thomas, Sammy, and Norman into this?” Maria laughed.

“Considering they have to walk through the kitchen to get back into the house, I don’t doubt it.” She sighed. “Well, I suppose we should see if we can find your old suit,” Henry laughed and pushed himself off the couch.

“That’s a good idea; last thing we need is Joel and Bendy dragging me down to the rental shop.” Henry took Maria’s hand and the two headed to their room.

.

* * *

.

A few hours later, the kitchen and dining room were ready for this fancy date. Bendy was ‘helping’ Henry tie the bowtie, while Alice was helping Maria in the bathroom, more intrigued by the idea of makeup than actually helping.

“Alright, I think you got it Ben-”

“Wait!” Bendy said, cutting off Henry, sticking his tongue out. “Almost-Aha! There! I got it!” The demon stepped back, admiring his work. He nodded firmly as Maria stepped out of the bathroom, led by Alice. “Are you guys read-WOW! You look really pretty!” Maria chuckled as she brushed some hair behind her ear.

“Thank you Bendy,” She said and looked at Henry with a smile. “You look rather dashing yourself.” Henry’s face flushed as he let out a nervous chuckle, while the two toons beamed.

“We’ll meet you in the living room, ok?” Without waiting for the response, the two toons hurried back to the kitchen, leaving the two to chuckle.

“Just like children…” Henry laughed before offering his arm. “Shall we humor them?” Maria chuckled and took his arm.

“I don’t see why not,” She chuckled and they walked out and headed towards the dining room, hearing Joel directing the toons around, bantering with Sammy and Thomas. Norman was standing near the edge of the living room and watching the controlled chaos. He noticed the two and Henry smiled gently. 

“Are they ready?” He asked and Norman nodded before knocking on the kitchen wall, grabbing the attention of those in the kitchen. There was excitement and hushed whispering before Bendy and Edgar stepped out into the living room, doing their best to look like waiters.

“Your table’s ready!” Edgar said proudly. 

“Follow us!” Bendy said and after a near miss of the two knocking into each other when they spun around, led the couple to the dining room. Bendy and Edgar worked together to pull out one of the chairs and Henry helped them push Maria to the table once she sat in the chair. Maria managed to hide her smile behind her hand as the demon and spider had difficulty with Henry and were vocal about making sure Henry didn’t help them. “We’ll go get Sammy and he’ll get your drinks!” Bendy huffed once they got him closer to the table before the two scurried back to the kitchen.

“Looks like you were right Henry,” Henry chuckled as he took his wife’s hand as they watched Sammy bicker with Bendy and Edgar, before slinking into the dining room with cups of water.

“I swear those two.” He grumbled as he set the drinks down. “Far too pushy.”

“You should be scott free after this,” Henry offered and Sammy gave him a deadpan look.

“With Joel egging them on? It’s a miracle they let me keep the clothes I’m wearing and not wrangle me into a tuxedo.” With that, the former director turned and slunk back to the kitchen, no doubt to try and get away from these shenanigans.

“Maybe he could help me with one of the piano lessons,” Maria noted. “Give him something to do outside of trying to focus on what happened with the studio…” Henry nodded.

“I’m sure the pawn shop has a banjo somewhere,” He agreed. “Maybe he can help with the garden too,” Maria chuckled as she nodded in agreement before there was a loud “BORIS!” from the kitchen. Maria and Henry looked at each other before looking at the kitchen.

“Is everything alright?” Maria asked slowly.

“Y-Yeah,” Her brother yelled back. “We’re fine.”

“Boris, why don’t you sit with Maria and Henry, ok?” They heard Thomas’s voice and within moments saw the sheepish wolf being ushered out of the kitchen. “Food’s going to take a little bit longer than originally thought.” Maria covered her surprised gasp as Henry’s face softened as he realized what happened.

“Oh buddy,” He said gently as he helped the wolf to the table. “You ate everything?” The wolf nodded sheepishly as Thomas went back into the kitchen.

“I-I wanted to try a bite cause it smelled so good, but then the plates weren’t even and I didn’t want to get caught so I took another bite and then it was gone…” Boris whimpered and Maria smiled.

“It’s alright Boris,” She said, patting the wolf’s head. “Joel cooking is something else,” She chuckled. “And you’re not the first one to try and sneak his cooking before it was time,” Boris looked up at her in surprise. 

“Really?”

“Oh yes!” Maria started to tell Boris about a few incidents, engrossing the wolf as Henry stole a glance over at the kitchen, smiling as he saw Joel rallying the other toons in remaking the ‘dinner’ while Thomas and Norman watched from the side of the kitchen. Henry turned to look back as his wife before a jolt raced up his spine and he was seemingly transported back to the studio, mangled inky humanoids reaching for him, the mockery of Bendy standing at him, the smile plastered on malicious in its glee. The creature said no words, only pointing to Henry and then dragged its hand across its neck before lunging at-

“Henry!” Henry gasped as Maria shook his shoulder and Henry realized a few things; he wasn’t at the studio, there wasn’t any sign of the demon anywhere, and he was on the floor. 

“W-What…” He started to ask. “How..”

“You froze up all of a sudden.” Maria said gently as she helped him up off the floor. “And then you started to lean back and you fell over.” Henry nodded slowly and looked at Boris, who was understandably concerned. He offered a weak smile.

“Sorry about that Boris, I don’t know what happened,” He said slowly, shaking his head. “I should be ok now…”

“Are you sure?” Maria asked sternly. “I’m sure the boys won’t mind if you-”

“Everything ok there?” Joel asked slowly, poking his head into the room. “We heard a crash…”

“I’m fine,” Henry said firmly. “I’ll be fine…” He forced a smile. “Besides, everyone is so excited, I’d hate to make them wait…” Joel smiled weakly before nodding.

“Alright, well, we’re almost done…” Henry nodded before looking at his wife.

“I can make it through dinner.” She made a face.

“Fine, but then you are going to rest. I can’t have you pushing yourself too hard.” He nodded and pecked her forehead, trying to focus on her and not on the golden ink that seemed to illuminate the shape of a young man on the concerned wolf.

“I will, I promise…”


	13. Chapter 13

...

“What are you doing?” Sammy asked slowly as he watched Maria head to the parlour room.

“I’m getting ready for the piano lessons today,” She explained, holding the sheet music. “You’re welcome to join and help, or just listen in.” Sammy blinked slowly.

“You teach...music…?”

“Just piano,” Maria said, the director following behind. “It’s something to do, and sometimes it’s easier for the shyer children to learn from someone they know already than trying to get used to a stranger.” 

“I see…”

“It’s only a suggestion Sammy, you’re more than welcome to join or not. I certainly won’t be offended if you spend time with Henry and the others in the living room while I teach,.” Sammy nodded slowly before scrunching his face up. 

“Does Henry not work?”

“He and I are both retired.” 

“Oh.”

“Well, relatively recent all things considered, but still,” She said, putting the sheets on the piano, before she chuckled. “At least we won’t be bored for quite a bit with everyone at the house,” Sammy smiled softly.

“Yeah…” He was quiet for a moment, furrowing his brows. “May I ask a question Mrs-Maria…” Maria stopped and turned back to the director.

“Yes?” Sammy wrung his hands, as if not sure he was going to like the answer..

“I know you left after….Henry’s accident…” Sammy said slowly, his voice barely above of a whisper. “But do you know…did you know who replaced Henry?” Maria raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean Sammy?” Sammy furrowed his nonexistent brows.

“I...I...I just need to remember his name…I want to know..I have to know i-if he made it-” Sammy started to tremble and Maria quickly came over and took the inky man’s shoulder, pulling him into a comforting hug. Sammy returned the hug, struggling to keep his composure.

“I’m sorry Sammy, but I wouldn’t have any idea...I doubt Joel would know either…” She said gently after a few moments. “I’m sure whoever replaced Henry didn’t stay long though, Joseph is a consistently stubborn man and would’ve pushed him away.” Sammy made a small hum.

“I stayed.” Maria pushed Sammy back and looked at him with a gentle smile.

“He wasn’t the only consistently stubborn one at that studio…I remember you being quite proud of your music.” She said, fixing the buttons on the old shirt Henry had given to Sammy. “I’m sure you’ll remember the amount of times Linda, I, or any of the other gals had to drag you out when you were in the middle of work to make sure you ate something.” Sammy nodded slowly before frowning.

“Linda sounds familiar…Audrey as well...they weren’t voice actresses…were they?”

“Well no, not exactly,” Maria said quickly. “They worked on the old shorts before Bendy,” Sammy tried to rack his brain but it was clear there was nothing there. Maria patted his shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” She offered a smile. “I’d tell you to go wash the tears off your face, but that would be a little strange coming from your former bosses’s little sister.” Sammy smiled slightly.

“It is good to see that despite the years, you still have a strange sense of humor…Ah, your shirt…” Maria looked at her shirt and made a face, despite Sammy wearing a long sleeve shirt, there was black ink smeared on her shirt. “I-I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright Sammy, I’ll go change and soak this; I should have enough time before the first lesson.” Maria chuckled and hurried out of the room, leaving the music director alone with his thoughts. He looked at his hands before looking at the piano and chuckled softly.

“I suppose it would be nice to hear those songs again…even if I cannot play them anymore...”

.

* * *

.

_“Wonder why it’s glowing gold,” Bendy mumbled as he and the others took a few to rest, looking at Henry’s forearm, where golden ink was scattered throughout the mark on his forearm flickering with varying brightness._

_“Maybe there’s different inks?” Charley offered as Barley was falling asleep against the wall, Edgar already ahead of him in his lap. “There can’t be only black ink...right?” Henry nodded slowly._

_“Yeah, there’s all sorts of colors and things like that,” Henry said as he sighed. “I don’t know if Joey mixed colors in that machine though...he was a stickler about keeping ink separate…” He looked over at Boris. “You alright?” The wolf jumped slightly but nodded._

_“Y-Yeah,” Henry frowned but didn’t push it; they had barely escaped that False Angel and considering how desperate the woman wanted Boris, it wasn’t a shock the wolf was shaken. He turned back to Bendy._

_“I don’t suppose you have any idea what this is supposed to do…” Henry asked and the demon stuck a pose to think._

_“Maybe it’s something to read the ink!” He exclaimed after a few moments. “I know Sammy blatered to the Searchers like they can talk back so maybe it’s something so you can understand ‘em!”_

_“Bendy, they were trying to-” Alice argued as the demon placed Henry’s hand on his head._

_“Let’s see if it works!” Henry blinked slowly and looked over at the other toons, who were just as confused. He looked back at the eager demon and chuckled._

_“Alright, let’s try it…” Henry said and closed his eyes, humoring the demon._

_“Can you hear me?” Bendy asked and Alice groaned loudly._

_“Yeah if you say it out loud,” Henry opened his eyes as the demon stuck his tongue out at her._

_“Maybe we can try again later,” Henry offered. “Or maybe we can find a searcher we can bribe…”_

_“Boris! Why don’t you try!” Bendy exclaimed coming over to the wolf. “Since somebody is being picky, why don’t you-”_

_“N-No!” Boris snapped, startling the demon. Boris stared at the demon before curling in on himself. “N-No...er...I-I’m sorry-”_

_“Maybe we should try and rest right now, ok?” Henry offered. “It’s been a long enough day and we should rest…” Bendy nodded slowly and Boris nodded as well, obviously grateful for the distraction._

_“Could we have a story?” Bendy asked slowly and Henry nodded as he got himself comfortable on one of the seats as did the other still awake toons._

_“Of course, buddy…”_

.

* * *

.

“I like all these colors!” Bendy exclaimed as Henry placed the box of crayons onto the coffee table in front of the toons. “Ooo!”

“...get so many?” Henry turned to Norman, who tapped the speaker in irritation; Thomas had tried his best to figure out a way to replace the speaker but the piece he found like to crackle and pop whenever Norman tried to use it and until Joel was able to get Murray Hill to visit, they were going to have to deal with it for now.

“I’m sure Maria’s mentioned the twins a few times, but we watch the neighbor’s children when they are working, and when they’re not getting into mischief, they enjoy coloring.”

“What are they like?” Alice inquired and Henry chuckled.

“They’re bundles of energy, and would even tucker you guys out,” Henry joked, chuckling as Bendy and Alice’s eyes went wide.

“No way!”

“...Names?”

“Ah, yeah, they’re named Edward and Theodora, but their nicknames are Eddie and Teddy,” Henry explained, the toons nodding along. 

“Do they like spiders?” Edgar asked and Henry nodded.

“Teddy loves to be outside and explore and there’s been more than once she’s snuck a few bugs and spiders and even a frog to show her parents.” Edgar’s eyes went wide as Norman made some weak chuckling.

“Whoa! That’s awesome!”

“It is,” Henry said. “Eddie isn’t quite as excited about bugs and frogs as his sister, but he likes to draw and help Maria with the garden.”

“Maria’s garden is very pretty,” Alice noted softly before they heard the piano playing. “What’s going on?”

“Maria’s teaching piano right now,” Henry explained. “Which is why we’re in here, so she can teach them without any distractions.”

“Is Sammy helping?” Charley asked slowly and Henry shrugged.

“...Listening in.” Norman suggested. “Long time...piano in the studio worked…” The toons nodded slowly as they stopped what they were doing and listened to the lesson. Henry couldn’t help but smile at the joy the toons seemed to emanate as they listened and heard Maria and her student speak with each other. He looked over at Boris and noted that the wolf was more focused on the papers, staring at the sheets and absently moving his crayon around.

“Boris?” Henry asked gently, careful not to grab the others’ attention. The wolf looked up at him, confused. “Are you alright?” The wolf nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I’m ok...I’m just thinking…” Henry smiled.

“Alright, if there’s anything I can help with, let me know, ok?” Boris nodded, clearly distracted by his thoughts and Henry stole a glance at Norman, who nodded; he’d keep an eye out of the wolf and if anything were to come up, he’d let Henry know.

“Can you play piano Henry?” Bendy asked, turning to his creator, who chuckled nervously.

“I’m certainly not as good as Maria,” He said. “If I don’t have a pen in my hand, I’m pretty much a klutz when it comes to using my hands anymore.” 

“You handled the wrench and the plunger pretty well though,” Alice pointed out.

“And the axe!” Edgar added. “And those cans of bacon soup!” Henry chuckled.

“I suppose you’ve got a point there…maybe after the lessons, you all can coach me on playing,”

“You bet Henry! They don’t call me the dancing demon for nothing!”


	14. Chapter 14

…

“Henry?”

“Yes Bendy?”

“What exactly is a shower?” Henry blinked slowly. “I mean I know that one of the safehouses had those things that you said you could shower in, at least without ink, and I know Maria said you needed to take a shower when we first met but what’s that?” Henry rubbed the back of his head as he tried to figure out how to explain it.

“Um, well, that’s how you can get clean, kinda like a bath, but you stand in the shower and uh…” He rubbed the back of his head. “It’s kinda hard to explain…”

“Can you show me then?” Henry paused; would the toons be ok with a shower? Granted he and Bendy had jumped in rain puddles and things were fine, but that was only for a few moments. Then again it's not like Bendy would stay in the shower long enough for the water to damage him, right?

"Uh, sure, that sounds ok…" Bendy bounced in excitement as Henry got to his feet. “We’ll just have to be careful, ok? I don’t know if you’ll run when water hits you,”

“I’ll make sure I don’t run far then!” Bendy laughed and Henry couldn’t help but chuckle as he realized he walked into that one. Once at the bathroom, Henry turned on the faucet.

“OK what you do is you turn this one and you let the water warm up to what temperature you like,” Henry explained before pulling a knob and the water from the faucet disappeared.

“Wha-” Bendy asked before he jumped slightly as water came out from the shower head. “Whoa…” His eyes were wide as Henry smiled. “It’s like it’s raining inside! C-Can I hop in?” Henry nodded and helped the demon into the bathtub, letting out a sigh of relief as the toon seemed to be perfectly fine under the water, laughing as he spun around in the bath.

“What are you doing?” Bendy and Henry looked at the door and saw Boris looking at them in confusion.

“I’m taking a shower!” Bendy exclaimed. “Look how cool this is Boris!” Boris looked at Bendy, blinking slowly, before looking at Henry.

“A...Shower?”

“Yeah! Come on! This is so cool!” Bendy waved over Boris and after a few moments the wolf joined Bendy, sitting in confusion as the water pelted him gently as Bendy’s attention turned to the shampoo bottles. “What are these?”

“Ah, well, these are shampoo bottles,” Henry explained. “Maria and I use them to clean our hair, and the soap is for cleaning too.” Boris picked up the little and sniffed it curiously. “You’re not supposed to eat it Boris, it just helps you smell nicer,” Boris made a face and put it back down as Bendy sat next to Boris.

“This is so cool!!” Henry laughed as he shut off the water.

“Yeah, it certainly is...if you two stay put I can show another thing you can do in the tub,” Both Boris and Bendy watched with rapt attention as Henry walked over to the sink and after ruffling through it for a moment, pulled out a bottle. “Here we go,” Henry walked back over and put the stopper in. “We should have just enough,” Boris and Bendy exchanged looks before looking at Henry as he turned the faucet back on and poured in what was in the bottle. Their eyes widened in awe as they saw bubbles start to form in the water. “It’s a bubble bath,” Henry explained gently, swirling the bathwater to help move the bubbles around. “And you can shape the bubbles and it’s all sorts of fun...it’s the only way Maria and I can convince the twins to clean up, though I also have to tell them a story as well…”

“You do have great stories,”

"Thanks guys," Henry chuckled as he turned off the water and scooped up some bubbles. "Now let's try and shape something…" Henry and the two toons focused on the bubbles, unaware that Maria was leaning against the door frame, watching them with a soft sad smile on her face before she turned and went to check on the others. 

Speaking of which Sammy was sitting on the couch and staring indignantly at Alice, who was staring back, while the Butcher Gang watched with various degrees of interest.

“What in the world?” Maria asked slowly. “What’s going on?”

“Sammy won’t tell me his favorite short!” Alice proclaimed. “He says he can’t remember!” Maria blinked slowly.

“She doesn’t believe me that my memory is gone.”

“You remembered Maria and Henry! And besides, the other angel said you knew all sorts of things…”

“The False Angel was more than happy to run her blade through my chest in front of my congregation.” Alice made a face.

“She never had a sword! An axe sure, but she never used a sword!”

“What?” Maria asked slowly, looking between the two before looking at the Butcher Gang for help. “What?” The toons and Sammy looked at her as Maria shook her head. “No, nevermind, I don’t think I want to know right now...Alice, Sammy might not remember everything, he’s still working on that, and tastes change, so the short he liked back when he was working might not be the same if he saw it again.” Alice nodded slowly.

“I guess that makes sense…” Maria smiled gently.

“Now that’s out of the way, let’s go and get to work on getting dinner ready, ok?” Edgar perked up.

“I want to help!” He exclaimed as he scrambled towards the kitchen, earning some laughter from Maria as the others got up to help as well. She followed behind as she thought about how drastically the household had changed since Henry came back, and while she was content with this, there was a part of her that was concerned that this wasn’t going to be the end of things, especially since it seemed that there were two murderous fake angels and not just the one Henry mentioned. Maria sighed softly as she walked into the kitchen. 

“At least Joel only has to deal with this chaos a few times a week…”


End file.
